Bungo Stray Dogs: Dante Rising ***(Temporary Hiatus)***
by michaeladupre
Summary: Dante Alighieri is the Guardian of the Book. Constantly trying to keep the peace in the city while protecting it, her path has crossed with many in her life. Mainly being the Port Mafia and the Armed Detective Agency. Keeping a calm demeanor is her one priority, however, the constant barrage of criminals and the love of her life give her a run for her money.
1. Reunion

"If you time it just right, you can find a young woman who is about the age of 22, who lays on the top of a building she calls home for the time being. She's a myth to some, but a friend and ally to others. She often holds her left arm in front of her, to the sky. The twilight a perfect background for her to admire the ring on her middle finger. The setting light catches the jewels, making them shimmer and dance. You can see a small smile on her lips as she looks at it fondly, love in her eyes. However, the look is quickly snuffed out by the waves of loss that flood across her mint colored eyes."

He walked out of the shadows, hands in the pockets of his oat colored jacket. His coffee gaze stopped on her.

"Or at least that what they say!" His tone took on a cheerful one as he walked over to the resting girl. He, too, only looked to be about 22, his chocolate hair as messy as always.

"Shut up, Dazai." She sat up abruptly, her wine and grey hair swinging gently with the sudden movement.

"You look good," he crouched down next to her, smiling widely which caused his eyes to squint shut, "you cut your hair, it suits you."

He opened his eyes slowly, a hint of the smile still at play on his lips but it had retreated from his eyes. Dazai gazed into the eyes of the girl in front of him, reading every emotion that flew through them until they landed on the one he was so used to seeing 7 years ago, irritation.

"How did you find me, Dazai?" She snapped, there was a reason she hadn't reached out to him when she resurfaced from the Underground. She wanted nothing to do with him, seeing Dazai reminded her of him. That was too painful. The fact that she still had the ring was besides the point.

"I just listened to the rumors, people had started talking about how the 'Guardian' had resurfaced. People whisper and when they do that it's usually because of something interesting." He stood back up now, his long legs shifting his body ever so elegantly. His 5'11" stature looming over her. Even if she stood up she still wouldn't stand a chance, she only stood at 4'11". She appeared less than intimidating.

"I heard you left the Port Mafia, joined the Armed Detective Agency," she sighed and stood up also, her relaxation slipping ever further away, "looks like I'm not the only one who decided to make a change." She looked up at him, clearly not pleased.

"Let's just say, a friend showed me a better path. You had already abandoned _our_ ship by that point." He shrugged and looked out over the city, she did the same.

"_We_ were never on a ship together. We knew each other and I helped out if it benefitted me," She looked at him again, "what are you doing here, Dazai? You're not here to try and recruit me, the ADA seems to have a handle on their jobs and I know it's not because you missed me. So, care to enlighten me?"

"I have a new pupil." He gave her a glance.

"Oh, boy."

"I had a feeling you'd be interested in him." She scrunched her face at this.

"Why?"

"Because my new little kitten is also what you would call a Tiger Beetle," he paused for her to process, "there is a storm coming and I would love for you to meet him before it hits, Dante."


	2. Tiger Beetle

She stood in front of the ADA building, dreading life. If what Dazai said was true, many people were going to be coming after the boy. The Port Mafia being one of them. The pit of her stomach twisted in a knot. With a heavy sigh, Dante walked into the building, making her way to where she needed to go. It wasn't her first time being there and probably wouldn't be her last. The head of the ADA Yukichi Fukuzawa, constantly tried to reach out to her in order to recruit her, but she always politely declined. He also knew that she was trying to lay low and work from the shadows, however it was possible he gave Dazai her location given the situation. She opened the door to be met with screaming, rubbing her temples, she took a deep breath. Doppo Kunikida had Osamu Dazai by the collar of his jacket, shaking him repeatedly and screaming something, that Dante couldn't quite understand, at him.

"Kunikida, if you keep shaking him like that I think you might actually kill him." Dante chirped quickly, even though she would love to see Dazai cease existence, Kunikida would never be able to live with himself if he was the one to kill Dazai. He stopped shaking his victim, his grey eyes landing on Dante as a wave of familiarity came over them.

"Wow, Dante, back from the dead?" He dropped Dazai abruptly, causing him to crash into the floor loudly. She watched Dazai as he shifted quickly onto his side, facing both Kunikida and her, with his head in his hand and the other on his hip. Very "paint me like one of your french girls". Dante blinked at him slowly, processing what she was seeing, Dazai saw that familiar irritation appear and in a flash Dante's foot was firmly planted against his face.

"Now, Dante. Weren't you the one who just warned me against potentially killing him?" Kunikida coaxed, his hands up knowing exactly how the situation would devolve if he didn't intervene.

"That was because I didn't want you to have that on your conscience. Me? I have no qualms with killing him." She turned and smiled sweetly at Kunikida, vaguely aware of the other detectives that had zeroed in on the situation.

"We can't have that." He said with a sigh as he lifted her up by the underneath of her shoulders. She blinked blankly, not fully processing what had just happened and then quickly recovered. She turned her head slowly, looking at him as best as she could.

"Look here, giant, I've warned you before on picking me up, so put me down before I hurt you." He complied and she brushed herself off, glaring at the 6'2" 22 year old man in front of her. She finally gave herself the chance to absorb his appearance. She had briefly resurfaced from the Underground two years ago to contact Yukichi Fukuzawa about Dazai potentially working at the ADA, it was information she had heard through the Underground grapevine. She met Kunikida at that time also and they immediately hit it off, given the way she was with Dazai mainly when they all met briefly before she went back under. Dazai had not completed his entrance exam to join the ADA yet, but they all had met each other before in passing. He had changed slightly in the two years she had been absent. His daffodil hair had gotten longer and was now in a small ponytail, his grey eyes a hint darker with the knowledge he had gained. He looked wiser almost. She sighed and crossed her arms.

"So, Dazai, where is your new pet?" She looked at him as he pretended to play dead, only to finally snap out of it when he realized she was talking to him. He stood up and patted himself off.

"Atsushi," he waved to someone behind Dante, "come here."

A young boy of about 18 stepped into her line of sight. She took him in; he stood at around 5'6" and looked very timid. He had cloud colored hair that hung shaggy against his face with a slightly longer strip on the right side. His eyes were a segmental heterochromia, violet at the tops of the irises that bled into an almost lemon color. She tilted her head at him.

"I'm Nakajima Atsushi, it's a pleasure to meet you." He bowed deeply to her and she smiled. He was polite and quite adorable.

"So you're my Tiger Beetle," she mumbled this to herself but quickly recovered when he looked at her confused, "I'm Dante Alighieri."

She held her hand out for him to shake and he took it gently with a small smile.

"Dante, here, is the guardian of a certain book that is hidden somewhere in the city. Her family has passed down the duty of guarding it for generations, along with a masterful ability to protect it." Dazai explained and Atsushi nodded in awe.

"He makes it sound so glamorous," Dante giggled, "my ability is called Inferno. There are 9 different levels to it and each one has a different power I can control, it pretty much helps me be able to somewhat handle anything that is thrown at me."

She gave a rough explanation and Atsushi nodded in understanding.

"So what are you doing here?" He meant it politely, but instead it just brought a weight to the situation.

"Well, Atsushi, I'm here to meet you."


	3. Haunted

"You're here to meet me? Why?" Dante hesitated and Dazai looked at her questioning. He went to open his mouth and she quickly jumped against him, slapping her hand against his mouth.

"You see, Dazai and I go way back and when he told me he had a pupil I had to come meet you. You have to be one hell of a person to get Dazai to think of anyone but himself, so for him to have a pupil," she forced a laugh and inwardly cringed over it, "is blowing my mind right now."

Dazai tried to say something from behind her hand and she looked at him, warning him to keep his mouth shut. She had come to the conclusion that telling Atsushi that he was the Tiger Beetle that could lead someone to the book she was sworn to protect was probably not the best thing to do. It would most likely cause more problems than necessary and why worry him over something that she was going to do everything in her power to control? So long as she kept a close eye on him and made sure to get him out of any potential danger that could lead to the finding of the book that was all that would matter, right? At least that's what she told herself. She released Dazai and turned back to Atsushi who was once again observing the situation at hand.

"What I'm trying to say is, it's great to meet you and I'm glad that you and Dazai are good friends, lord knows it's hard for him to get along with anyone." She smiled sweetly and then felt something rest on the top of her head. Dazai had crossed his arms and had them draped over her head, using her as a prop.

"Yeah, so you better not take it me for granted! It's not often that the dwarf is right but when -" He was cut off mid sentence when Dante grabbed his arms and hurled his body over her head. She then proceeded to sit on his chest, hook her thumbs into the sides of his mouth and start to spread his lips widely all the while Dazai was laughing uncontrollably. Kunikida had abandoned the fight at this point and Atsushi stood there not sure what to do. Fukuzawa had walked up next to him after hearing the insistent commotion, Atsushi glanced at him quickly then returned his gaze to the trainwreck.

"They seem to be pretty good friends, huh?" Atsushi tried to bring an airiness to the statement but failed.

"I don't know if I would say they are good friends." Fukuzawa responded while also observing the two.

"What do you mean? They look that way to me."

"Well, for starters, Dante pleaded with me to not hire Dazai. She said he would be the downfall of the ADA, that he wouldn't be able to take on the role that was expected in order to work here." Fukuzawa said it breezily, not thinking about the can of worms he had just opened.

"Why would she say that?" Fukuzawa finally looked at Atsushi, then sighed and closed his eyes.

"I don't know all of their history, but she knew Dazai before he came here. Believe it or not, Dazai was a lot...darker...before he got here. She feared that he would not be able to get away from that darkness" With that Fukuzawa clapped his hands together, gaining the attention of the girl who then ceased her attack. She walked over to him and he patted her head.

"I would appreciate it if you stopped harassing my detectives."

"I would appreciate it if your detective," she put emphasis on the singular word, hinting to one person in particular, "didn't harass me first. But no need to worry, I've done what I came here to do so I'll be heading out."

She walked past them all and to the door only turning back to look at Fukuzawa who nodded at her, telling her that he was happy to see her. She smiled and walked out the door, but not before parting with a few words.

"Hey, Atsushi, I'll be seeing you soon." The door snapped shut behind her just as the last word came out her mouth.

Dante returned to her hiding spot, wanting nothing more than to decompress after seeing Dazai again. He always managed to get under her skin so easily. It made her begin to think of when they had first met each other and then when he came into her life. Cerulean eyes danced across her mind, he came to her without warning. Always uninvited, but never necessarily unwelcomed.

She sighed, hating herself for not being able to hate him the way she wanted to. He had hurt her beyond repair, but she physically couldn't bring herself to turn any malice towards him. If anything she wanted to thank him for opening her eyes to how cruel love truly was. They had only spent a little less than two years together, but in those two years she felt like she had lived a lifetime with him, he completed her. He was her one. Her only. She was willing to give up everything for him and she had made the mistake of thinking that he felt the same way.

She glared at the ring that had taken up permanent residence on her person the moment he gave it to her, hoping that he would somehow feel her anger through it. He had given it to her as a promise, a promise that they would be together forever. How quickly that promise became so empty that it left her hollow inside. So much so that she disappeared, it was the only way that she could guarantee that she would never see him again. Dante twisted the ring around her finger, looking over at the dimming city lights.

All of her memories of him flashing before her like a tragic movie. The way he smelled, the way he laughed, his touch, how gentle he could be with her, the love that he showed her, the pleasure that he gave her. Something warm scurried down the side of her cheek quickly, she brushed it away. You would think that after 6 years she would be past this, be past him; but how can you get past something you truly don't want to get over?


	4. Beginning

It had been a few days since her meeting with Atsushi and she had been keeping a close eye on him since then.

"You've got to be kidding me? His bounty is in the millions?" Dante hung her head slightly, rubbing her forehead in thought over the information she was getting.

"Who is it?" Her voice was clipped, impending doom taking root in the pit of her stomach.

"I see. Thank you." With that she ended the call and chucked her phone across her room. She began to pace around, rubbing her hands down her face. This was happening too fast, she should have been able to have a bit more time to prepare. The bounty on Atsushi wasn't always in the millions, so why change it now? She stopped, hand covering her mouth and deep in thought. Then it hit her, this was the storm Dazai had warned about.

She clicked her tongue, making a "tsk" noise. Dante had to give it to him, he was always playing chess while others were playing checkers; he constantly stayed two steps ahead and always seemed to have a plan or previous knowledge, it was always well thought out and methodical not to mention infuriating. Her eye twitched at the thought of her playing into his hand exactly how he wanted, a puppet master pulling the strings of his marionette. She had started to become acutely aware of a prickling sensation that started at the back of her scalp and worked its way down to her right arm, it was a feeling she had gotten multiple times before whenever she used him. The sensation was telling her one thing and one thing only, Atsushi was in trouble.

By the time that she had made it to the alleyway, Dazai had already showed up. He must have also been keeping tabs on his pupil. Given the situation she could already tell that he had used his ability No Longer Human, it was a convenient thing being that it could nullify any ability.

Atsushi was laying behind him, his clothing ripped and tattered like he had been put through the ringer but surprisingly he seemed to be in fairly good shape. Part of his ability allowed him advanced healing, maybe? Standing in front of Dazai were two people that Dante had seen plenty of times before this. Ichiyō Higuchi stood closest to her, she was roughly the same height as Atsushi and in her 20s. Her bumblebee yellow hair was cropped to her shoulders but she chose to style it in a tight bun and her hickory eyes were focused on the man in front of her.

Ryūnosuke Akutagawa had his focus on Dazai, the boy was about 20 and almost sickly looking. He had short ebony hair with two pieces that were kept longer on the sides of his face that faded into white. His iron colored eyes angry as he took in Dazai. Dante leaned against one of the sidewalls gaging the situation.

"If I would have known you were going to be here I wouldn't have come at all." Dante crossed her arms as she smirked at Dazai. Akutagawa and Higuchi both turned to look at her quickly, recognition flooded their faces and for Higuchi it bordered more on fear.

"I would have thought you were going to get here faster, you don't use Violence for fast traveling anymore?" Dazai was referring to the seventh level of Inferno. She snorted at this.

"I was nearby already, didn't think that the confrontation would be over so quickly. Kudos to you," she turned her attention to Akutagawa at this point, "I have a bone to pick with you, you've been wreaking havoc all over my city for some time now."

She narrowed her eyes sharply, if looks could kill. He bounced his gaze between Dazai and her, the confrontation had spun out of control before he had even realized it.

"It seems that we are at a disadvantage," he looked at Higuchi now, "we are falling back, but that doesn't mean I won't be visiting the agency in the future."

It was pointed to more of a threat at Atsushi than anyone, he had finally regained consciousness and was observing. Dante made her way over to him once the two mafia dogs had taken their leave.

"Hey, Atsushi, give me your left hand." Confused, he held his hand out. She grabbed his wrist and turned his hand so that his palm was facing upwards then took her finger and traced a "V" on the palm. A small black point formed that bubbled up and burst from his hand, a charcoal colored orb floated in front of her.

"Hey, Virgil." She smiled as its eyes snapped into place and mouth separated showing its sharp teeth.

"I would prefer that you tell me before you attach me to someone." He huffed and she shrugged sheepishly. Dazai's eyes had begun to sparkle.

"I was wondering where he was!" He poked Virgil playfully and in retaliation Virgil nipped at his finger.

"I'm taking him back for the time being, if Akutagawa is going to be hunting you I'll be able to find you fairly easily. Since the situation has been resolved I'm going to take my leave." She turned her back to them Virgil hovering next to her and began walking away, leaving a very confused Atsushi in her wake.

"Oh, Dante, I thought I should tell you," Dazai piped up and she stopped turning back to him seeing the mischief in his eyes, "he will be coming back soon. Apparently he's been gone on a job and -"

"I don't care," she eyed him carefully, "and don't ever bring him up again."


	5. Duty

Dante sat upon her perch, legs dangling over the side of the building. She mulled over the information Dazai had provided her with yesterday, not sure if she was really as upset about the information as she put on. She tilted her head side to side, moaning and grunting. If only she could have left the city and started over somewhere new, somewhere far away from him. Maybe then she would have had a fighting chance of getting over him, whereas here everything was a reminder. Not to mention that given the circumstance they were bound to run into each other again at some point. The grumbling just got louder as Virgil phased through her right sleeve.

"You have company." Dante signed and looked behind her to see Atsushi standing there.

"If now is a bad time…" He trailed off and she raised an eyebrow.

"Not at all," Dante patted a space next to her on the concrete median, "come sit down."

Atsushi complied, dropping the bag he was carrying to the ground before hoisting himself up beside her. She watched him carefully.

"Wow, that's pretty difficult for me to do, I can only imagine how it is for you." Atsushi smiled brightly.

"I could easily throw you off this building." She spoke with a deadpan look. He rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled slightly.

"Sorry." Dante shrugged at his apology.

"Don't worry about it, I like you so I wouldn't actually do that. I've just heard comments about my height all my life, so it's a bit tiresome."

"I didn't mean it like…" He trailed off again.

"Like how Dazai means it? I know, that's why I was only partially serious. Don't pick up his bad habits." She gave a small smile and he nodded back at her. They stayed in silence for a while just watching the people bustle about the city looking like tiny ants in a big ant farm.

"I'm leaving the ADA." He blurted it out so randomly that it took a minute for Dante to register it.

"Oh yeah? That's good. WAIT. What?" She snapped her head to him so fast he was afraid she was going to break her neck.

"I don't know what I would do if anything happened to anyone at the agency because of me, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I don't doubt that Akutagawa would take out anyone in order to get to me, he proved that yesterday. So if that means that I need to leave in order to keep them safe, then that is what has to be done." Dante processed this.

"Honestly," she looked from him back to the city, "I think that it doesn't matter what you do. If they were going to attack the ADA they would, it doesn't matter if you're there or not. Plus, you leaving is going to just make you an easier target. Staying with people that can help is the best option. There is always going to be an easier solution, but it's not always the best."

"You sound like you speak from experience." She chuckled sarcastically.

"I've had plenty; between my power and duties, then dealing with the people I have...you could almost argue I'm a professional at weighing out options and possible solutions." Atsushi took the moment and jumped on some questions he had been wanting to ask her.

"Speaking of your power…"

"What is it? How does it work? What is Virgil? I'm assuming that's what you want to know?" She interlaced her fingers together and rested them in her lap looking down at them as she spoke.

"That and why are you the guardian of this book?" Atsushi leaned back on his hands into a more comfortable position. Dante nodded.

"I'll try not to bore you with too many details," he nodded to her and prepared himself to listen for as long as it took, "well, I supposed I should kind of start from the beginning? Majority of times when you hear about a duty being passed down through generations you typically have some back story as to why, this isn't one of those cases. The guardians have never been told why things are the way they are, it just always has been. No one knows who the original host of Inferno was nor do the guardians know where the book they protect is. Kind of like a safeguard, so that if the current protector gets kidnapped and tortured they won't be able to reveal the location."

"So how do you know that it's real? Or that it hasn't already fallen into the wrong hands? And what is so special about this book that it needs someone to protect it?" Atsushi was even more curious.

"That's hard to explain, it's like this sensation? I don't know. I know that the book is in this city and that it is safe. Where ever that is I plan to keep everyone from knowing. As for what is special, supposed anything that you write in it will come true, providing it follows the rule of karma." He nodded.

"So, tell me about Virgil."

"Virgil is kind of like a guidepost of sorts. He is the one that chooses the next host for the ability and the only time that the power is able to be transferred is if the previous host is either dead or willingly gives it up. Which, I don't believe anyone has ever willingly given up Inferno, it also doesn't help that all my predecessors had short life spans."

"Is it the ability that killed them?"

"No, more like the job. People often mistake the Guardian for knowing where the book is and it never ends well for either party. Going back to Virgil, he is like my companion. When he isn't active he becomes one with my body and a charcoal design appears on my right arm. I'm also one of the first hosts to be able to attach him to other things, like how I did with you. When I do that I can track down whatever or whoever it is from just about anywhere.

"Once I take him back I can usually keep track of whatever it was for about a day, once that time is up that's it. The residual effects go both ways, for about 24 hours we both will know exactly where the other is. How do you think you found me today?" She eyed him carefully, knowing full well that if he was fleeing the agency he wouldn't have bothered to ask them to help him look for her. Realization came across his features.

"I hadn't really thought about it. I know I wanted to talk to you and then just started walking." She nodded, showing him that's exactly what she was talking about.

"So, you could argue that Virgil is a part of the ability, but then you could argue that his isn't. He had a will of his own and can become just as easily active as well as inactive without my having to do anything, but if I lose the power I lose him. So they are a package deal.

"He is also the one that explains each level of the power and helps you to navigate them without killing yourself. There are 9 different levels to Inferno and each one provides a different power. The weakest being level 1 and the strongest being 9, I tend not to use that one too often because of a side effect it has with harnessing that strong of a power. Some hosts were never able to use it at all."

"Wow. That's a lot of information to absorb." He whistled and she nodded.

"I didn't even tell you what each leave was or the power it holds." Atsushi swiveled his body back around, hoping off the medium.

"Thank you for telling me what you did and as much as it pains me to say it, it's about time I took me leave. I don't want the other detectives to figure out I'm leaving and then come after me or something."

"So you're still going to go, huh," he nodded, "and what happens if the mafia still attacks the agency?"

"Honestly, I'm not sure what I'll do if that's the case." Dante nodded.

"Perhaps you should prepare for the worst."


	6. Cerulean

"Come on! Run!" Two men yelled to another as they turned down a narrow alleyway. They stopped abruptly as a creature dropped from the sky in front of them, blocking their way to flee. Standing up slowly, its mint eyes set evenly on them. Sharp claws flexed, glistening in the dim light of the ally; its talons tapping on the concrete of the ground, the sound deafening. Its wings wide and spanned easily past the narrowness of the alley but were folded against the creatures back slightly in order for it to be able to move more freely.

"You know, I woke up this morning with a craving for eyes. Too bad for you." The voice was sickly sweet, the three men had been on the run for a while. They were known to snatch women off the streets, rape and murder them. They had been evading police capture and unfortunately had decided on the wrong girl to grab this time. The creature walked up to them menacingly; the men had all fallen to the ground at this point, pleading with the creature.

"Please, we're sorry! Don't kill us, we'll turn ourselves in!" One whimpered.

"Oh! Really? If that's the case then I'll let you live." The creature smiled as a ring of lights appeared around it. The wings, talons and claws now gone Dante began to brush herself off, humming slightly. The form she had taken was one of the parts of her power; Level 7: Violence was the only one where she had, as Virgil had called them, rings of power.

Ring 1 was the more violent of the three, she hardly used it mainly because of the kind of person that she was; it caused combustion, meaning that she could take the boiling point of any object and make it explode, mainly people. Ring 2 was the one she used more frequently; usually, as Dazai had said previously, for faster travel. She was able to turn into a Harpie like creature, her speed and agility formidable in airborne battles. Lastly there was Ring 3 where she could control magma, that if it touched any living creature it would immediately begin to devour them until there eventually would be nothing left, that was another she hardly used.

She was never the type to kill, if it could be avoided. So the levels that were the most violent, that would kill anyone with the literal flick of her wrist, she restricted herself from using; yet another thing that Virgil was good for. He prevented her from being able to use it, upon her request, unless it was absolutely necessary.

"Well, if you guys are done killing women unnecessarily then come with me, we are going to the police station." She turned her back on them and one took the chance to lunge at her, knife in hand, against the other two pleas to not. In the blink of an eye the ground opened up and snapped shut around the guy, stretching and expanding around him, effectively rendering him entombed.

"Level 6: Heresy." Dante said to herself quietly, the other two men were now shrieking at what they had just witnessed, too terrified to move, they cowered together as the police sirens were finally able to heard over the lively city.

The police came and arrested the two that were crying together first. Dante then released her ability on the tomb and the third man fell out, shaking and mumbling, not moving an inch.

"What did you do to him?" One policeman asked and Dante shrugged.

"It isn't a power that messes with your perception and makes you see stuff in order for you to have a mental break or something, I mean, unless you are already predisposed with an illness that that could happen with if you are entombed. However, I think in this man's case he literally thought he was going to die and had no idea how to handle or process it, ironic isn't it?" Dante crossed her arms, walking out of the alley with the officer.

"We really appreciate your help, we could have never found them otherwise."

"Well, honestly, I happened upon them. They tried to make me one of their victims," she watched them carefully, people were capable of all kinds of monstrosities, "well, I'll let you guys take care of the rest."

She waved and began to whistle, hands shoved in her pockets. It had been about a week or so since Atsushi came to visit her. Like she thought, even though he had fled the mafia still attacked the agency. It had caused a lot of headaches and chaos, but ended up being resolved fairly quickly. Everything had been a bit quiet since then and honestly the last thing she had heard about was a small scale train explosion by the mafia, but the agency was on scene and handled it. That was yesterday. She had also recently relocated, continuously moving was one of the keys to not getting caught. Dante swung open the doors to the top of the building when something caught her eye; on the side of one of the stone medians was a taped small white piece of paper. She walked over and swiped it off, her eye twitching the moment she saw the handwriting. She would know his chicken scratch anywhere.

_Help! I've been taken hostage! Come to this address! Love, Dazai._

A little heart was next to his name and the address below the message. He had written this before he had been taken, which means that he purposely got kidnapped. Dante waded up the paper and flicked it somewhere over her shoulder.

"Suffer." She declared, wanting no part of whatever he was planning.

Meanwhile, Dazai was chained by the wrists to a stone pillar. He was flapping his hands back and forth, making the chains jingle softly. He was clearly bored and wanted something fun to occupy his time; hoping that his little plan would actually work, Dante would ignore his note at first but she's a creature of habit and would come and help him anyway. The whole point of him getting caught was for one reason and one alone, he was trying to figure out who placed the huge bounty on Atsushi, however, he also could resist the perfect situation he had been handed, a mischievous grin pulled at his lips. Dazai perked up when he heard the sound of footsteps making their way toward him, who would it be? He hoped only one of the two people he had the urge to torment right at this moment.

"Oh? What do we have here? Plotting as usual Dazai?" His voice was the first thing to come. His shaggy tiger orange hair was framed around his face and a fedora style hat sat neatly on top. His cerulean eyes narrowing in amusement as a cheeky grin pulled at the corners of his mouth. He hadn't changed much from 4 years ago, he still stood at 5'3" and had a big attitude to compensate for it. Not to mention that Dazai got about as much enjoyment picking on him about his height as he did when he poked at Dante for the same thing. Chūya Nakahara was Dazai's former partner in crime when he was with the Port Mafia.

"Gross." Dazai put on that he was less than pleased, but in reality Chūya was one of the ones he was hoping for.

"I like that response, it makes me want to strangle you." Chūya chuckled and walked closer to him.

"You haven't changed a bit." Dazai's face was straight and completely sarcastic.

"Excuse me? You know what," Dazai raised an eyebrow, "aa much as I like this, you being a prisoner, it's just all too convenient. What is your real aim?"

Chūya knew how Dazai was, he knew there was always more than meets the eye.

"It's exactly how it looks, I got caught and now I'm waiting for my execution." He tried to sound nonchalant.

"Bullshit. There is no way the Dazai I knew would get caught as easily as you did. If that was the case I would have killed you years ago." Chūya turned his back on him abruptly.

"It's exactly as it looks, but why are you here?" He was having fun poking at his former partner again, for old times sake. Now if only the other piece to the puzzle would show up.

"To harass you of course! You used to put me through hell," Chūya turned back quickly, kicking his leg in the air and severing the chains that held Dazai in place, "now I'm going to pay you back for it. Fight me."

"Chūya," Dazai snapped his fingers and the cuffs on his wrists fell off, "you talk too much."

"So you could have gotten out at any time, huh? So I was right, you're up to something!" He lunged at his former partner causing them to start sparing. Chūya went in for a punch, but Dazai caught his arm and gave him an uppercut to the gut.

"You call that a punch?" He recovered and countered with a roundhouse kick that sent Dazai flying back first into the stone wall he had been chained to moments before.

"Ho boy, I thought my blocking arm was going to get ripped off," He got up and rubbed his arms carefully inspecting the damage, "I know all of your moves, remember?"

Chūya smirked and came at him faster, throwing him off balance with one arm and then landing a solid punch to his stomach with the other. Dazai staggered backwards and he could have sworn he heard the faint sound of something right before Chūya grabbed him by the throat. The now still atmosphere allowing him to hear the noise again.

"You think you can beat me just by predicting my moves?" Chūya was ready to continue the beat down when he heard the noise too. Walking. Someone walking slowly, almost hesitant.

"Dazai? Are you down here? Look I just had to use Heresy on like 20 guards and when they get out, which they will, I would like to be as far away from this place as possible. So if you're not dead, you better be pretty damn close or else I'm going to finish you off for making me come here in the first place!" Dante's voice rang out, irritation easily found in it. Dazai locked eyes with Chūya, a Cheshire grin finding its way to his lips as he watched the mafia executive visibly pale.

"Oh, by the way, Dante has come out of hiding. Well, I guess you can say more like I forced her out. I'm not entirely sure why you couldn't find her for all these years, I found her in like a day." Chūya's breathing got ridged as his grip on Dazai's throat got slightly tighter.

"What would make her come out of hiding now?" He barked out.

"Hm, something more important than the guarantee of never seeing you again." Dazai's smirk grew as he watched the man in front of him squirm.

"Those 7 years have been kind to her too, she's a real knockout. Filled out in all the right places. I can understand why you fell for her, but I can't understand why you would let her go." He just kept adding to the torment. Chūya didn't stand a chance and the thing Dazai said next was the nail in the coffin. He got close and whispered it into Chūya's ear.

"She still wears the ring."

"Jesus, this place is like a maze." Dante touched the side of the wall as she made it to the stairs that lead to where the two men where.

"Dante, down here!" Dazai chirped brightly.

"Yeah, yeah, hold your horses." She stared at the steps as she walked down them trying to be careful not to miss one and potentially break her neck. That would be a way to go.

"Um, Dante, I think we might have a slight problem." Virgil had appeared and floated next to her ear, whispering so low that Dante was sure she misheard him.

"What? What do you -" She came to a full stop as she met his eyes. Cerulean melting into mint, like they were seeing each other for the very first time. Like when they first met when they were 15. Chūya was still very pale and unmoving, if she didn't know any better she almost would have mistaken him for a statue.

She was still as beautiful as he remembered, the years had been kind to her just like Dazai had said and with her hair shorter it just added to her femininity. He took every inch of her in, like falling in love with her all over again. A memory of her crying, distraught face flashed through his mind and he was thrown back into reality. One where he had chosen the life of a Port Mafia Executive over a potentially normal happy life with the woman he loved. He had made a lot of choices and followed a lot of orders that cost him the one thing in his life that truly made him happy.

Dante took him in, keeping her face passive and giving nothing away. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of seeing that she was still hung up on him after all these years. Her eyes then narrowed on Dazai, "_your dead"_ was what they were screaming at him. She walked over to him, completely bypassing Chūya, and grabbed the collar of his jacket. The force made him lose balance which resulted in Dante dragging him behind her. As she passes by Chūya again he reached out to touch her, like if he did he would figure out that she wasn't actually real, just another figment his mind had conjured. His fingertips barely kissed her skin, leaving a ghost touch that made goosebumps pop up on her arm. She never looked back at him, just continued on her way and the last thing he saw was Dazai waving at him with a triumphant smile on his face.


	7. Confrontation

"Are you insane? You have got to be, because there is NO way any person in their right mind would think that situation was okay. Besides what the hell were you doing there anyway?" Dante was livid. She had been angry at Dazai before, but this was a whole other level. They were flying through the air and when they made it to the building she called home she dropped him from a few feet up then landed herself.

"I was trying to figure out who put the bounty on Atsushi."

"You could have just come to me, I know exactly who it is." She was flabbergasted.

"Oh, then who is it?" Dante looked at him like he had two heads then sighed.

"An organization called The Guild."

"Huh, well, but if I wouldn't have gone there then I couldn't have set up that little reunion." His smile did quite reach his eyes, he was still rubbing the side of his hip that he had crash landed on when she walked up to him and then grabbed the collar of his jacket.

"Give me one reason. One reason why I shouldn't kill you for that bullshit, you evil son of a bitch." Dazai just looked at her, eyes blank and narrowed.

"I did it because I was bored and wanted some entertainment." She had nothing, it was like someone had popped a balloon full of air. She was deflated, exhausted.

"Leave." She raised her hand to point to the door, malice dripping from the word. Dazai got up without saying a thing and did as he was told. Dante collapsed onto the roof, unwelcome tears coming like the water of a broken dam. This was never supposed to happen, she was supposed to stay hidden. Underground. Dazai always knew how to throw a wrench in any plan. She sniffled and Virgil fazed out of her sleeve.

"Maybe you should go back under? Things were better that way." He was trying to make her feel better. She just shook her head.

"You know I can do that now that the Tiger Beetle has appeared." She sat cross legged, elbow resting on one leg and her head resting in her hand. She rubbed the back of her neck with her free hand, how had this day gone so wrong. What was Dazai thinking? He had never done anything without a purpose, but this was just outrageous. She closed her eyes thinking back to Chūya; he looked as handsome as she remembered, the life of an executive had given him a darker look but he was still the boy she fell in love with. She had felt a little twinge of happiness when she saw that he was wearing her old choker, but she had to play it all off. She couldn't let him back in, she couldn't go down that road again. Sitting there in deep thought she almost didn't notice the prickling feeling that came across her skin in a wave, she looked at Virgil who was staring behind her.

"Dante." His voice was soft, hesitant and uneasy and it made her pulse pound in her ears. He walked a tad bit closer to her, wanting nothing more than to scoop her up in his arms and never let her go. He hadn't been thinking when he had followed them back here, just that he wanted, no, needed to talk to her. Seeing her anger had given him pause and made him think that it was a mistake, but then seeing her tears made him decide to try. Someone as beautiful as her should never shed tears of pain, only happiness.

"Go away, Chūya, there has been enough damage done for today." She hadn't looked back to him, she just sat there hoping that he would leave.

"I can't do that. I left you once and I've regretted it for years, I've looked all over for you. Just to see you again, tell you how sorry I am." This got her to turn around, quickly, fresh tears welling up in her eyes.

"Sorry? Looking all over for me? I can't believe this," she stood up now, inching her way to him, the tears now flowing down her face, "you left me broken! Our whole relationship had been built on a lie! Mori put you up to it, you made me fall in love with you! Remember what you told me? The deal between you and Mori had been that you were to get close to me and try to get information about the book, if I didn't know anything you were to kill me because I was too unpredictable, he couldn't control me so he wanted me gone!"

"But you are still here, I didn't kill you! I couldn't! Everything wasn't a lie!" Chūya was trying to defend himself.

"But it didn't matter enough for you to leave. You said you loved me, said you wanted a life with me. I was willing to abandon my duty of protecting this damn book if it meant that I would be able to have a life with you! But I wasn't enough to make you leave the Port Mafia, make you leave the man that had told you to kill the 'love of your life' if she wasn't going to be a pawn in whatever scheme he was plotting. You made that choice. So you get to live with that regret!" She hadn't felt like this since the day her dream came to a screeching halt. The day she vowed never to love again, that it was dangerous and painful.

"That's not fair, you know I couldn't leave. There were things I needed to do!" He grabbed ahold of her shoulders, his eyes boring into hers. The hurt there was prominent, but it didn't matter to her. She wanted him to hurt the same way she did.

"Needed." She spat the word out and Chūya's grip on her tightened slightly.

"What do you want me to say and I'll say it. I'll do anything, it's just now that you're back I can't let you go again." He wanted nothing more than to fix what he had broken. The way this situation had come about was a bit unconventional, but he would take what he was given.

"I want nothing from you, not anymore." The look in her eyes made his heart drop to his stomach, they were empty and hollow. Those beautiful mint eyes should never look so absent, his hands dropped away from her as he searched her for even the slightest glimmer of hope that he could fix this whole mess.

"I don't want to leave you. Not again." His eyebrows knitted together.

"You lost the choice 6 years ago." She backed away from him but he grabbed her hand.

"I will fix this, damn it. I will win you back somehow, because if there is one thing the years have told me it's that living without you in my life isn't living. I don't want another year to go by without you back in my life." He was looking down at her hand as he ran this thumb over her knuckles tenderly.

"I've always loved that determination of yours." And there it was, that glimmer he was looking for. A small smile pulled at his lips as he dropped her hand.

"I will be with you again. I'm going to make up for all the lost time, I'll show you the love you deserved during those years."

"Don't make a promise you can't keep." She swallowed hard, trying to will herself not to be hopeful.

"This is a promise I will go above and beyond to make happen." He took one last long look at her. Committing everything he could to memory before he left; Dante wrapped her arms around herself, feeling nauseous. Too much had happened today, to many feelings. Things she had hoped would never resurface, but not that they had, was it really so bad?


	8. Preperation

It wasn't long after that, Dante visited the ADA. She had made it a point to completely bypass Dazai without so much as a glance. Kunikida picked up on her hostility and snapped his head towards him.

"What did you do this time?" He had never seen Dante completely ignore his existence before, only slightly. Dazai sighed and rested his head in his hand.

"I might have gone a little too far." He watched Dante's back retreat into Fukuzawa's office, another sigh releasing from his mouth. Kunikida took this in.

"You, of all people, went to far?" The sarcasm dripped from every word, but Dazai didn't so much as flinch. Just turned his attention to outside the window, watching the people pass by.

"Fukuzawa." She addressed him firmly. He looked up at her from his paperwork.

"To what do I owe the pleasure?" She walked over to a chair that was in there and sat herself down lazily.

"I want to talk to you about the people that are coming for Atsushi." She met his eyes and his focus was wholly directed at her now.

"What about them?"

"They're an organization called The Guild, though I'm sure Dazai already share that with you," saying his name made her queasy, "I don't think that you guys will be able to handle them alone, I honestly don't think the Port Mafia would be able to handle them either, let alone me by myself. However, I have a feeling if you and I at least join into a temporary alliance, our fighting chance just might increase." She laced her fingers together and then laid them in her lap. He processed what she was offering.

"Temporary? So you won't be joining us full time? That's unfortunate," he sighed, "but I agree, I think this is the best way." He wrapped his hand around his mouth in thought.

"I think they'll be here soon. I'm sure that they feel it is probably best that they hand the capture of our kitten themselves."

"Have you talked to Mori about this? Maybe having a truce among all of us?" She cringed and Fukuzawa had to stifle a laugh. Mori Ougai was the head of the Port Mafia and the one that had given the order for her to be killed.

"I have no intention of going to see that man. I'll leave that choice to you." She scrunched her nose up as if she had smelled something awful.

"Very well, then let us prepare."

True to her gut feelings, The Guild showed up shortly after that. The first thing that they did on their mission to sniff out Atsushi was go to the ADA. Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was a thin man with short cropped blonde hair and frost colored eyes that hid his true intentions. He had asked to buy the ADA's Gifted Business Permit, Fukuzawa had immediately declined. Wanting nothing more than for him to leave. Him and his colleagues took their leave when he realized he wasn't going to be able to convince Fukuzawa, but not without taking something in the process. Dante was leaning against the helicopter they had flown in when they emerged from the building.

"And you are?" His voice was level and very educated.

"Dante Alighieri, you could say I'm the welcoming committee." She could read that he knew her name but had no clue of what she looked like, which means that he probably knew what her duty here was.

"I see, well it's a pleasure to meet you, but we have to take our leave now." He was trying to be polite, he didn't want to start anything just yet. She removed her person from the helicopter and watched as they took off into the distance. A Cheshire grin spread across her face, he had a plan but she was going to use all of her power to make sure that it would never happen. Looking back to the building, she took flight and decided to formulate her own counterattack that she would later run by Fukuzawa to get his opinion. This was going to be an all out war over one thing, a silly book. She had found out later that one of the Guild members had made off with a detective that caused their first battle between the agency and the Guild. It was only going to get worse from here.

Dante had finally come up with her plan and was ready to get back to the agency to discuss it with Fukuzawa. On her way there she happened upon a scene that made her speechless. Atsushi, Kunikida and another detective by the name of Kenji Miyazawa, he was a boy that had gold eyes that were always so friendly and pineapple yellow hair, there was also a Mafia Executive among them. Her name was Kōyō Ozaki, she had cherry colored hair and crimson eyes, but Dante wasn't sure what she was doing there.

Once she had gotten them the help they needed she went to find Fukuzawa to talk to him about the situation, her plan had gone out the window.

"We are going to relocate to our underground facility, we can't afford to be out in the open like this." He was going through some papers on his desk.

"I would like to join you, I think that given our alliance it would be best that I stick with you guys." Fukuzawa nodded at this.

"Very well, I'm going out for a bit. Please make yourself at home for the time being." Everything was fast moving after that. Fukuzawa had called Kunikida to let him know what Dante and him had talked about, he was then attacked by assassins that were from the mafia. Atsushi wanted to go and help him but upon Kunikida and Dante saying that Fukuzawa would be fine he stayed put. Dazai had been talking to Kōyō, trying to get some information on what the mafia was planning. They were all scrambling around trying to get everything in order for the attack that was surely going to come, it was just a matter of when. They had all finally made it to the bunker and began the final preparations. The group was to split into three groups. One defensive and two offensive. On the defense was Dante, Fukuzawa, Ranpo, Kenji and Yosano. Offensive one was Kunikida and Tanizaki, offensive two was Dazai and Atsushi. Now all they had to do was wait and see who would make the first move, the Guild or the Port Mafia.


	9. Choice

"I'm bored!" Ranpo screeched, his head resting on the desk that housed all of the monitors that displayed the various cameras hidden around the building they were all hiding in. Ranpo Edogawa was arguably the best detective in the agency even though he wasn't an ability user like the rest. His onyx hair hung messily underneath his penny brown hat, his parakeet green eyes hidden behind his lids as he pouted. Dante sat in one of the sets of pews with her legs propped up on the top of the set that was in front of her. Head hanging slightly over the back of the one she was sitting in, she sighed.

"We're all bored, Ranpo." Virgil fazed out of her arm and hovered in front of her eyes.

"We might have company soon." Dante looked at him confused, how would he have known that? She swung her legs to the ground and got up to go look at the cameras.

"No. Fucking. Way." Ranpo had perked up at this point. She was staring at none other than Chūya Nakahara who was staring back at her through the camera; though she knew he didn't know who was looking at him, he knew someone was judging by his taunting body language.

"Get the turrets ready." Fukuzawa ordered Yosano. Akiko Yosano was a lively woman who has soot colored hair that is kept short and neat and always has a gold butterfly placed delicately in it. Her penetrating magenta eyes focused on the buttons she needed to push in order to prepare for the attack.

"Those won't work, I'm going down there myself." Dante called out to Fukuzawa as she sprinted to the door. Of all people, it just had to be him. Her emotions were so conflicting, but since her and the agency had an alliance if he was here to fight them, that would mean she had no choice but to fight him also. A small smile crept over her lips, that didn't sound too bad to her; afterall, she did still hold some anger over him.

"Kenji, go with her!" Dante heard him order.

"You got it!" He responded with a smile and a salute then chased after Dante who had already made it out of the room. They made it to where he was in record time, Dante held her hand out to Kenji signaling for him to stop.

"I'm going to distract him, when there is an opening, you take it," Kenji nodded and stood back, "Virgil, I need you to stay with Kenji so that you'll be able to guide him through this."

"Guide him through what?" Virgil appeared and flew over to his side.

"Level 1: Limbo." She said the words softly and Virgil understood. The whole surrounding area filled with a thick fog that any normal person wouldn't be able to see past, Dante and Virgil were the exceptions. The fog billowed towards Chūya quickly, he blinked and then was completely surrounded. A feeling of familiarity pounded in his chest. She appeared so quickly he had no time to react, Dante had lowered herself slightly to make sure she had the perfect shot of his stomach. With about half the force she was capable of she thrust her right hand forward quickly, her fingers curled into her palm as it made contact with its target.

The sheer force of the hit sent him flying and he quickly recovered by using his ability, For The Tainted Sorrow, which allows him to manipulate and create gravitations; he launched himself back to where he thought she was but found himself fumbling around unable to pinpoint her location. In another quick burst he felt the heel of a foot make contact with his shoulder, the force of this sent him face first into the ground.

"This is playing dirty, Dante." He pushed himself up on his hands and attempted to scan the fog again.

"You and I both know that even if this fog wasn't here you still wouldn't be able to win against me." She teased as she circled around him, a shark about to sink her prey.

"What are you doing here? I thought you didn't make alliances? You know, the whole lone wolf thing." He stood up now, preparing himself for another blow.

"Oh, you know, we have a common enemy and I can at least tell when to put my pride aside and ask for help." She stopped and the fog cleared in the blink of an eye. Kenji had picked up a huge piece of the old tracks that were on the floor and was hurling it towards Chūya, Dante had released her power a fraction too soon which gave him enough time to dodge, his feet now firmly planted on the ceiling.

"Sorry, Dante! I missed him!" Kenji called to her and she chuckled.

"No, that was my fault!" She called back, Chūya released himself from the ceiling.

"Can we talk about this like adults?" He really wasn't expecting to fight her of all people.

"Hm. No," She walked towards him, a sweet smile on her face that didn't quite make it to her eyes, she held her right hand out, "Level 2: Lust."

Her grin spread into something a little more sinister as rapid bursts of wind circled her hand. Chūya knew this level very well, it was what she used on him and Dazai whenever they would get out of hand. In a PTSD induced panic, he held up a picture of two men. Dante stopped, slightly confused.

"What is that?"

"These are two members of The Guild, Howard Phillips Lovecraft and John Steinbeck. On the back of this photo is the date, time and location of where they will appear." He breathed out a sigh of relief when he saw the wind around her hand dissipate. She raised an eyebrow at him, walking over to him quickly and snatching the picture from his hand. She looked at it closely, memorizing the writing on it and the men.

"What's the catch? It's far too good to be true that you're just giving us this information." Fukuzawa's voice boomed through the area they were in.

"What they are after is something very precious to you." Chūya teased, glancing at the camera then back to Dante. She was watching him carefully trying to see if he would give something away. The line was silent for a moment then burst to life a few minutes later.

"Dante, Kenji, I need you two back here now." Fukuzawa ordered, a twinge of panic could be heard.

"Fukuzawa what is going on?" She questioned, not fully prepared to leave just yet.

"The mafia has decided to make Haruno and Naomi bait for The Guild." The two people he mentioned were two of the girls that were part of the agency, but more of the secretary side. Fukuzawa had told them to lay low and purposely kept them separate from the others in the hopes of reducing the threat to them. That didn't work apparently.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" Dante snapped to Chūya, anger in her eyes. He held his hands up in defense.

"I'm not the one who did this. Don't shoot the messenger."

"Oh, I'm gonna do a lot more than shoot you." She stepped towards him.

"Dante! Come back here, we need to regroup. Leave him." She clicked her tongue against her cheek as she walked away from him.

"Chūya," she turned back to him and he gave her a soft look, "tell Mori that if we don't get to them in time and something happens to either of them, I'll kill him myself."

With that she turned on her heel and followed Kenji back the way they had come. He watched her leave, even through the situation he couldn't help how happy he was that he was able to see her. Chūya moved to put his hands in his pockets but stopped when his right shoulder twinged in protest, he put his left hand tenderly on it sucking in some air quickly.

"That's going to leave a bruise."


	10. Treachery and Corruption

"Dante, I need you to go meet up with Tanizaki and Kunikida, they are en route to the girls now. They are going to direct them on where to go once they all meet up, you're going to be extra backup." Fukuzawa stared at her evenly.

"You got it." She flipped out her phone and dialed Kunikida to get a pinpoint on their location. Once that was handled, she stepped outside and activated Violence: Ring 2. The wings spread widely from her back, leaping off the ground she spun into the air quickly and went full force towards the direction she was told. She arrived in what felt like a fraction of the time to see Kunikida and Tanizaki in a stand still with the two men from the picture. Landing quickly, she skittered to a stop looking up at Kunikida.

"Where are they?" She asked urgently, wanting nothing more than to get them to safety.

"Train!" Was all he got out and Dante was off again, weaving and dodging between the trees to try and get to them. She caught a glimpse of a wriggling tree root, clearly not natural, and followed it to find the girls. They were tangled in the lively roots preventing them from making their clean break, Dante heard the train whistle blow signaling that it was going to be moving soon; in one swift motion, she severed the appendages with her claws and grabbed both girls, she wouldn't be able to carry them long but she would be able to get them to the train.

Dante placed them softly on the platform on the back and continued to fly around, making sure that there weren't going to be any more unplanned attacks, while Haruno and Naomi went to find some seats. Kunikida had informed her that Dazai and Atsushi were going to be waiting for them at the end of the tracks; it was almost like a game of "pass the baton". That train came to a stop shortly thereafter and Dante swooped down to mingle, walking up to Dazai and deactivating her power she caught a glimpse of something in the distance.

"I believe you have company." She whispered to him and he nodded.

"Yeah, I know. I have no clue what they could want." He sighed and made a comment to Atsushi about having a 'mighty need to use the bathroom'. Dante just shook her head and then looked at Atsushi who was now greeting the girls; she walked towards them just as Haruno and Naomi introduced a young boy that they had met, an ominous feeling came over her as she stared at the boy. His hair was separated into two colors right down the middle, the left side was pearl white and the right was obsidian; his eyes are what cause her the most unease, his right pupil was a yellow colored star and his left was an oval shape that was the same color but part of the middle was absent and you could see the same color that his irises were, which was a denim blue. He was a small boy who looked no older than 13 years old and carried the freakiest doll Dante had ever laid eyes on. She was about to say something when she noticed the boy pushed his arm into Atsushi, with a smile he rolled his sleeve up to show that there were razors in his shirt and with the slightest touch they would rip open his skin; the pit of her stomach fell as she grabbed Atsushi away from the boy and motioned for the girls to stay back.

"Who are you?" She was in no mood to play around, the uneasy feeling she had was clearly justified and where the hell was Dazai?

"I'm Q." He quipped brightly with a smile and then hell broke loose. She heard Atsushi saying something about protecting the girls and then heard Haruno whimper, she turned to see that he was going after Naomi now. Running over to Haruno, she activated Heresy and the ground swallowed him up. Dante yelled for Naomi to come to her and as the girl moved to get around the tomb Atsushi's hand came crashing out, his ability activated. The pit of Dante's stomach dropped further as she got up and sprinted over to them. Atsushi had not fully come out of the tomb, just the top half of his body, and now held Naomi by the neck.

"Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here," everything stilled and then there was a blast of power that came from Dantd, "Level 9: Treachery!"

She reached out and touched the tomb, ice rapidly spreading. The ground under her feet began to slowly freeze over as the temperature dropped drastically; her right hand, that was touching the tomb, had small ice crystals now forming slowly on it; each new one that popped up, traveled a little bit up her arm. Her breath came out in a cloud and a surge of power came off her body again; in the blink of an eye the whole tomb was encased in ice, the top half of his body up to his neck and to his wrists were frozen in place. The shock of what happened forced him to let go of Naomi, who scooted her way behind Dante and to Haruno. By this point the ice crystals had completely covered Dante's forearm and she hissed in pain as the cold bit into her skin.

"Dante!" Dazai ran up to the situation, he saw what level she was using and knew immediately that he needed to get moving and cancel out Q's ability, he looked around for the doll all the while keeping a watchful eye on Dante. The crystals hadn't slowed their pace and he could see the pain she was clearly in; his eyes landed on a bench, his subconscious hearing the creepy laughter even though he was focused elsewhere.

He picked it up quickly and activated his ability, the doll ceased all movements. Dante breathed out a ragged sigh of relief as her hand slipped from the tomb, her power deactivating; just as quickly as it had appeared, it vanished suddenly with the deactivation. She grabbed the side of her arm, the crystals continuing their onslaught of pain in the places that they were as she slid to the ground; her whole hand, forearm and parts of her bicep burnt from the cold as she tried to catch her breath.

She was pulled out of the focus to her arm when she heard a slap, turning her attention to Dazai and Atsushi. Dazai had gotten up from where he was kneeling and walked back to Dante, grabbing her gently and looking at her arm in concern.

"You act like you've never seen this before." She breathed out a chuckle.

"That doesn't mean I'm okay with it. I thought you had gotten stronger and wasn't that a bit overkill?" He tried to poke fun but knew that it sounded forced.

"You can get stronger and still not be able to fully control something; with Treachery being my strongest level, it's also unpredictable. I would rather take the damage myself than risk going haywire and freezing a whole city, so that's why I do," She leaned against him, exhausted, "and to answer your other question, I had to go a bit more drastic. He broke out of Heresy in the blink of an eye and that's the only other good immobilizing power I have that wouldn't have hurt Naomi in the process."

"Chūya wouldn't be very happy." He stated, now he was trying to get a rise out of her.

"Well, he's not here and even if he had been the result would have been the same. Now can we please get out of here? I need a hot shower to defrost my arm faster." He rounded up everyone and they set out towards the original office, hoping that it would be a better place than out in the open. It wasn't very long after that, the Guild had gotten ahold of Atsushi and somehow also Q; they had put in motion a plan for the city to literally tear itself apart, it would be easier to find the book then. However they didn't expect that Atsushi would gain the trust of one of the Guild members who aided in his escape so that he could get Q's doll to Dazai.

It had been hectic and chaotic, everyone had joined together to try and stop the panic; the Port Mafia handled one side of the city, the agency handled the other; the Special Ability Department had spread their forces everywhere in between thanks to Dazai. The agency had anticipated Atsushi getting away and thanks to Ranpo, Dazai was in the right place so they were able to keep the casualties to a minimum. It wasn't very long after that a secret meeting took place that turned the tide.

"Hey, has anyone noticed that Atsushi is gone? I feel like I haven't seen him in what feels like days." Dante set down a stack of books; they had returned to the original office officially, Fukuzawa had decided that it was pointless to hide at this point considering the circumstances that had happened almost a week ago. She had healed for the most part, but her arm wrapped due to the minor frost burns she still had.

"He's been in recovery with Yosano." Fukuzawa emerged from his office.

"Yep, he's getting the VIP treatment." Dazai patted his stomach as he leaned back in his chair; his arm was in a sling due to the fact that a few days ago he was in a car accident. Him and Ango, one of the employees of the Special Abilities Department, had been driving talking about the department helping out the agency with the guild when they were sideswiped by a truck.

Dante nodded in understanding as she went about organizing the papers, she did have to admit that she enjoyed being a part of the agency, however temporary.

"I'm going to need your help with something, Dante." Fukuzawa's voice was clipped, saying that it was more of a statement than a request. At that point Kunikida had walked up to Dazai, fuming; he started going on about how Dazai was being lazy and needed to pull his weight. Dazai retaliated by saying he was cripple and excused from his work.

"Kunikida, please," Fukuzawa held up a hand to get him to stop, "Dazai are we proceeding with the meeting with the Port Mafia as planned?"

Dante looked at him, mouth agape. He wasn't serious right?

"Wait, why do you have that kind of leverage? To be able to get a meeting with the Port Mafia?" Kunikida placed his hand on his hips, confused, as he looked at Dazai.

"Because he used to be in the mafia. An Executive to be precise." Dante filled in and now Kunikida's mouth was the one agape.

"This is why I need your help." Fukuzawa addressed Dante.

"On that note, since we are getting into the mood of spilling secrets, who's ready to go see the mafia?" Dazai hopped up from his chair quickly, the fakest smile on his face; Dante tried to stifle a snort in amusement, he was dreading this about as much as she was.

Dazai sat on a bench, waiting for Mori and his goons to appear; they walked up shortly thereafter.

"Hey, boss." Dazai called out for old times sake and Mori smiled. Mori Ōgai was a man about the same age as Fukuzawa, he had a mischievous look to him as if he were always up to no good. His fuschia eyes took in his former executive, a hint of nostalgia twinkling in them, and his inky black hair was slicked back as always. He had his hands behind his back and he responded.

"Dazai, so nice to see you. Do you still have that jacket I gave you?"

"Of course not. I burned it." Dazai's eyes leveled on Mori as Fukuzawa walked up to greet them, Kunikida close behind him. The conversation started innocent enough; Fukuzawa talked about how he didn't believe that a truce would work between the agency and the Mafia, but that he would consider a momentary ceasefire in order for the two agencies to be able to deal with the Guild.

Mori retaliated with how that would never work either and that if they were going to join forces it would have to be under complete and total cooperation. This led to things getting a bit more heated, Fukuzawa decided that they might as well settle their differences right then and drew his sword. He went after Mori and two of his three guards went to move in order to protect him, they were brought down quickly. Fukuzawa had the tip of his sword at Mori's neck and Mori had a scalpel at Fukuzawa's, they were at a stand still.

"I think that's enough." Dante clapped, coming out from behind a pillar, her eyes landing on Mori. Who Mori thought was Fukuzawa disappeared into nothing, Dante's smile grew as Fukuzawa emerged behind her.

"Fraud, I take it?" Mori sighed; Level 8: Fraud gave her the ability to make illusions it was convenient if she needed to follow someone or infiltrate a place.

"You should be able to tell when I use this on you by now, Mori, you've seen it plenty." Dante shook her head, feigning disappointment.

"What can I say? I've gotten rusty in the 6 years you've been gone." He purred, clearly entertained.

"Hold the phone," Dazai piped up and Dante glanced at him, "you must be getting old or something, because Dante has been gone for 7 years."

Dazai was sure that he was right and Dante's face went red with embarrassment.

"No, Dazai, she went into the underground 6 years ago."

"That can't be true, Chūya told me that you had gone under because you were almost kidnapped and -" He gasped in realization.

"Chūya told you that because you wouldn't give us any privacy, you were like a cough we couldn't get rid of. So he decided to tell you that; he knew you wouldn't have been nearly as interested in his movements if I wasn't involved." She coughed slightly, this was getting uncomfortable.

"He lied to me! I can't believe it! So that's where he was always running off too, secret meetings with you! I would have given you guys space if that's what you wanted." He was offended at this point.

"No you wouldn't have." Mori and her said in unison and Dazai gasped again, placing his hand on his chest.

"I can't believe this."

"Back on topic," Fukuzawa cleared his throat, "the agency will be recovering Q tonight."

"And?" Mori responded, turning his back ready to walk away.

"Don't interfere."

"Why not?" Mori was still slightly interested in the situation.

"Because if there is one thing we both have in common it is our love for this city. So long as Q is in the hands of the Guild it will never be truly safe, I can't have that." Fukuzawa turned on his heel also.

"Dazai, the offer still stands for you to come back as an executive." Mori eyed him and Dazai shrugged.

"I don't think so. You kicked me out after all."

"Did you not want to leave?" Mori looked surprised, Dante watched eagerly.

"You were scared that I would take your position, were you not? Evil expects evil from people." With that the secret meeting had come to an end, a truce no longer in the cards. It was decided that Dante and Dazai would go after Q, they would have the highest success rate with the least amount of injury.

"So this is where Q is, huh?" Dazai pouted as Dante and him stood outside a disheveled looking shack; spotlights lit up the duo as Lovecraft and Steinbeck stepped forward, a small army behind them.

"Good evening." Steinbeck smiled and Lovecraft stared blankly at them.

"Go figure that this was a trap." Dante sighed. At the same time a meeting between Mori and one of his subordinates was taking place, the wheels of fate turning once again.

"Even though I said I wouldn't help them, I can't just turn a blind eye. Can you hand me the communicator for the frontlines? I think this will be the best alliance our agencies can offer." Back at the shack Lovecraft became distracted by something in the distance, in full force a huge boulder came flying towards the army, effectively taking some of them and Lovecraft out.

"Having the Double Black back together is always nice, but Dante being there just adds to the success rate. Now let's let those three have a proper reunion." Mori knew that they had all met previous to this in the Mafia dungeon where Dante rescued Dazai, but that wasn't the type of reunion he was talking about.

This was one where the three of them would fight side by side again, like they had 7 years ago. The army members that hadn't been taken out by the boulder were now reduced to being thrown around like rag dolls, Dazai watched clearly displeased and Dante couldn't quell her excitement even though the last time they had met it was under the circumstances of enemies.

"I knew it." He mumbled to himself.

"Let's get one thing straight, once I'm done taking out the trash, I'm coming after you." Chūya barked at Dazai.

"Awh, look at that, he's playing badass to impress you." Dazai teased as he leaned over to Dante.

"What? Excuse me?" Chūya became flustered, his cheeks tinted red with embarrassment. Dante stifled a laugh.

"Come on, guys, we have a job to do." She clapped trying to get them back on track. Steinbeck was panicking now, this clearly hadn't been a part of the plan. He went to use his Grapes of Wrath ability but it was quickly cancelled by Dazai patting him on the shoulder.

"Better luck next time, buddy," he sighed, "man, this seriously sucks."

"That's my line!" Chūya was in the air, his roundhouse kick making contact with Steinbeck sending him flying into the woods that surrounded the shack. Dante whistled, peering around Dazai at the path that had been left in the wake of the kick.

"Little overboard, don't you think," her eyes met Chūya's, she could tell that her picking on him was actually making him happy, "why am I even here, again? You guys seem to have everything under control."

She looked at Dazai, who shrugged.

"Old times sake?" It was her turn to shrug as she let out a sigh. They then tag teamed the rest of the remaining army and made their way into the shack. Chūya and Dazai had started up their old ways again which gained a threat of Dante using Lust on them; they quickly resolved their spat and she couldn't help the smile that found its way to her lips, nostalgia squeezing her chest painfully.

She knew that this would never be permanent, that time was long gone; but now that she found herself here, in the familiar presence of the two men that ever meant anything to her, she wished that they could just go back. They came to the end of the stairs and found Q; he was bound to a large tree-like structure, roots tangled around his body. Dazai cut him out and Chūya piggybacked him up the stairs; right as he went to walk out the door a set of tentacles wrapped around his neck, pulling him out of the building so fast he dropped Q and then was sent flying into the side of the shack. Lovecraft stood outside, his right arm now wriggling tentacles and his head was turned completely around.

"I don't know why, but my shoulder has been really stiff." He mumbled as his head snapped back forward, his eyes stopping on Dante.

"What's with that ability?" Chūya complained from the pile of rubble he was in.

"I would expect nothing less from the Guild," Dazai stepped on the top of Chūya's head, using it as a prop, "such amazing resilience!"

He was in awe and didn't see the impending slap on the back that was coming which sent him face first into the ground just below where Chūya had landed.

"Enough." Dante called out and crossed her arms, sass dripping from every pore. They both sighed and got up.

"So what are we going to do?" She asked.

"What do you mean? Bring on any ability and I'll stop it with the touch of a finger." Just as he said that, Lovecraft hooked his tentacles just above Chūya effectively taking out Dazai who was sent flying into a tree.

"Dazai!" Both of them called out. Lovecraft doubled back to Chūya, who threw a punch with his ability activated. This caused a ripple effect that made the tentacles explode. They both ran over to Dazai, Dante stopped short turning to keep an eye on Lovecraft.

"Hey, you okay?" Chūya stopped as he began to stand up, his face bloody.

"You're hurt pretty bad." Dante commented, watching the two out of the corner of her eye.

"We have a problem, I can't nullify his ability which means, it's not a normal gift."

"No way." Chūya looked back at Lovecraft who was coming towards them again.

"I'm pretty sure he's a homunculus," Dante called out and the two looked at her confused, "he's an artificially created being!"

She yelled, losing her patience slightly. Chūya walked forward, going after Lovecraft. He managed to get a hit in his chest and used his gravity manipulation to bring him to the ground. He walked back over to Dazai as they started bickering about something, Dante was the first to notice that Lovecraft was back up and transforming into what she assumed was his true form.

"I guess we have no choice then, huh?" Dazai called out and Dante deflated.

"And my arm just started to feel better." She pouted as she cracked her knuckles.

"Oh, no, she's not using that. It's too dangerous!" Chūya protested.

"You're one to talk. You better get in there before she makes you look bad." Dazai smirked at the face he made but Chūya listened to him anyway.

"I'll try to make it as short as possible, the least amount of time you use that level the better." He walked up to Dante and placed a hand on her shoulder tenderly.

"Shouldn't this be the other way around? Yours is far more aggressive." She raised an eyebrow and he gave her an adoring look.

"I don't want to see you hurt." He pulled off his gloves as he walked towards Lovecraft.

"Nor do I want to see you hurt!" She called after him. At the same time they both began to chant the phrases that activated the strongest form of their power.

"Oh, Grantors of Dark Disgrace, Do Not Wake Me Again." Red markings began to show up on his skin as his Corruption took over.

"Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here." A burst of cold energy radiated from Dante's body, the bandages on her arm had ripped off as fresh ice crystals began to form. Chūya was the first to move, he sent orbs flying in every direction trying to take out Lovecraft in any means possible.

The ground under Dante's feet froze with every movement, she released a blast that froze the base of the monster in place then began running up the creature and freezing whatever tentacles she could. The rapid succession of power caused the crystals to spread faster, they had now almost reached the shoulder of her right arm and almost completely covered her left hand. Steinbeck had managed to make his way back and stared in awe at the battle in front of him.

"What is that?" He whispered and then a blade touched the back of his neck, Dazai had snuck up on him making sure that he wouldn't interfere.

"That is what you would call a power couple." Dazai watched them go back and forth. Dante made the creature immobile and Chūya took the opportunity to try and destroy it, however it kept regenerating quickly. Dazai knew that neither one of them would last much longer; Chūya was bleeding heavily and the crystals had almost completely consumed both Dante's arms; she was in excruciating pain, they both were.

"It's no use, he's unbeatable on the outside." Steinbeck thought he was feeding into their hopelessness, but instead justified Dazai's reason for planting a bomb inside the creature.

"So he can be stopped from the inside, huh?" He pushed the detonator and the bomb exploded.

"Finish him!" He yelled to the two fighters. Dante held her arms out in front of her, a huge orb of shards of ice spinning around rapidly, she took out the base; Chūya had jumped in the air, an orb of his own behind him that he used to take out the top. When the dust cleared only the couple stood. Dante collapsed and released her ability, the pain she was feeling about knocked the breath out of her. Chūya on the other hand was still rampaging.

"Dazai, now would be a good time to stop him!" She called out and Chūya turned to her voice, a new opponent had appeared before him. He raised his hand, another orb forming as he stood in front of her; before he could hurt Dante, Dazai grabbed his wrist and nullified his Corruption. He finally collapsed as well and Dazai knelt down to be level with them.

"I wanted you to do that right after the battle ended." Chūya looked at Dazai who grinned.

"I wanted some entertainment." He watched Chūya's attention turn to Dante, who was sitting in front of them wincing in pain; both of her arms were completely frozen and the ice had begun to pop up in places on her chest, her breaths came out heavy. Chūya's eyebrows pulled together, he truly hated to see her in pain, but unfortunately he was fading and fast; he looked at Dazai.

"You better take me to the extraction point." He fell to his side once he managed that out, exhaustion finally taking him.

"You got it buddy." Dazai smiled, he too was feeling the nostalgia and he couldn't deny that he had also missed it.


	11. The Guild

After that, the final battle came into focus. It was decided that Atsushi would infiltrate the Moby Dick, which was the airship that the Guild had taken residence on after Zelda was sunk, thanks to Ranpo winning a game of wits against Edgar Allen Poe. Dante was later thrown into the mix when Fukuzawa decided that it would be best to not send Atsushi alone, considering the Guild was after him to begin with. Her arms weren't fully healed from the previous battle against Lovecraft, but she was more than willing to go in order to prevent Atsushi from falling into the Guild's hands again. Another team was put together in order to rescue Kyōka Izumi, who had been captured by the police when Atsushi was kidnapped the first time. Dante sighed as she stretched to prepare herself for the mission then walked up to the helicopter they were going to fly in, Tanizaki was in the pilot's seat. He was instructed to use his Light Snow to mask the helicopter so that they could infiltrate the Mody Dick without being seen on the radars. Before Dante boarded, she looked back at Atsushi who was looking a little pale.

"Hey, you good?" She grabbed his arm gently; he was fiddling with the com-system that was hooked around his neck, Dante had a matching one on also.

"Uh, yeah. Just a little distracted." He looked at her with wavering eyes and she knew what was going through his mind, she had seen a similar look in herself years ago. The fear that you won't help, that you won't be able to protect anything, that you'll fail. The propellers on the helicopter started to whirl to life as she wrapped her arms around his neck. In a moment of shock and embarrassment Atsushi almost pushed her away, but relaxed and embraced her back when he felt the reassurance she was trying to convey. She pulled away, hands resting on his shoulders; the propellers were going full blast now and she had to scream to be heard.

"You're going to do great!" She gave his shoulders a squeeze and turned back to get on the copter. He smiled, realizing that he wasn't doing this alone and that she had his back. They took flight as soon as Atsushi was in and Tanizaki used his power as they approached the airship; the radar was disabled for a short amount of time due to an incoming cargo plane, Atsushi and Dante were able to sneak aboard during that window of opportunity.

"We're in." She called over the communicator.

"Good, you know what to do." She had to quell her groan of displeasure when she heard Dazai's voice crackle over the system, the last thing she wanted was for him to be the voice in her head. However, she swallowed down her urge to throw the communicator off and went about the mission. They went to the room that housed the control panel, courtesy of Poe, and met none other than Herman Melville. He was sitting in the middle of the room, facing the door, he had been expecting them.

"Where is everyone? I would have expected more than just you so far." Atsushi prepared himself to fight as Dante stood there, something wasn't adding up.

"Everyone else has evacuated." He stated evenly and both of their eyes widened.

"Why?" Atsushi wanted more answers, but Dante was somewhat piecing things together.

"Fitzgerald expected this to happen, so he is going through with the emergency plan. Moby Dick will begin its descent to the city soon." He sighed, this was clearly not something he wanted.

"You're the user for this ability though, can't you stop it?" Dante asked.

"I am the user, but the beast is mostly mechanical now and that means I don't have the luxury of control that I used to." They both deflated.

"We have to abort the mission." Atsushi spoke to Dazai.

"No, we continue the mission as planned." A smile pulled at Dante's lips as he spoke.

"You knew this would happen." Atsushi was dumbfounded and Dante chuckled slightly, of course he knew this would happen. This is the man who is prepared for every situation possible.

"I knew it was a possibility." His voice was clipped and serious.

"Such a political answer." Dante crossed her arms and looked at Atsushi, surprised that she wasn't as surprised as him.

"So, how do we stop the descent?" Atsushi gained his composure slightly, directing his attention back towards Herman.

"It is in the very top office of the ship, guarded by someone quite powerful." He spoke softly and Dante could tell that he truly didn't want to go through with the plan that was in motion for the Guild.

"It's a good thing that we're stronger," Dante smiled at Herman and he looked at her quizzically, "don't worry, I'll have to die before I let this ship destroy the city."

With that they both turned on their heels and Dazai began to direct them on where they needed to go. Atsushi came to a halt abruptly which caused Dante to almost smack into his back, she looked around him to see what caused the sudden stop and what she saw was something that didn't bode well with her.

"Found you, Weretiger." His eyes narrowed on Atsushi, pure anger in them.

"Akutagawa!" He screamed back and charged. Akutagawa activated Rashōmon, but before anything further could happen Dante was between them with her hands leveled at their faces.

"No." When Akutagawa and Atsushi refused to back down she sighed, the situation feeling vaguely familiar.

"Lust." She whispered out the word; two balls of wind morphed from her hands and they floated slowly to the boys faces. She snapped her fingers and they burst, a huge gust of wind created from the tiny balls; the boys were sent backwards away from each other, tumbling head over butt. Dazai shivered on the other side of the communicator, knowing exactly what happened without having to see it, memories of his own flashing before his eyes.

"What the hell, Dante?" Atsushi sat up after he stopped flipping.

"We have a mission to do, we don't have time for this!" She glared at him and he knew not to push, he also knew that she was right. They needed to focus their attention on stopping the ship. She turned her attention back to Akutagawa who had recovered and was coming at her now.

"Atsushi, do as I say." Dazai spoke to him quickly, knowing that Akutagawa wouldn't let them by without a fight. Akutagawa activated his ability again, ready to take her down.

"Greed." Dante put her hands out in front of her, palms facing down as the atmosphere changed. In a flash, Akutagawa was on the ground being held by the pressure Dante had created.

"Got it." She heard Atsushi say behind her.

"Are we going to play nice now?" She released Greed and he gritted his teeth at her.

"Akutagawa," Dante moved out of the way so that they could see each other, "I'm talking to Dazai on this communicator, he wants to speak to you."

His eyes widened at the device in Atsushi's hand, without so much as a breath Atsushi threw the device over the side of the platform they were on.

"Dazai!" Akutagawa screamed as he went over the side to get the communicator, it was at that moment that Dante realized Dazai was no longer on the line. What a bastard, all the poor boy wanted from Dazai was acceptance. Dante threw her com-system away also, it was useless now.

"Go ahead, I'm going to scope out a path for a quick get away if need be." Dante ran in a separate direction, but not before stealthily attaching Virgil to Atsushi. She ran through the hallways, the place was a maze and without Dazai directing them on where to go it was almost impossible to navigate. She stopped breathing heavily from all the running she had been doing; that prickling feeling scratched at her scalp.

"Shit." She had no clue where she was which meant that there was only one way to get to Atsushi, to go through the walls. She used Fraud: Ring 2; getting the velocity behind her as she spun, Dante was able to pierce through the walls until she got to him. Fitzgerald was walking toward Atsushi who was laying on the ground, he had clearly been kicked through the wall. Fitzgerald's body had green marks all over it, which meant that he must have had his ability activated.

"Now that I've got you here, the plan can go on without a problem." He walked to Atsushi, a smile on his face.

"Don't you touch my Tiger Beetle!" She released Fraud quickly and then used Lust, the blast sent Fitzgerald flying backwards at full speed. She let out a huff and turned to help Atsushi up just as she caught a glimpse of someone walking up to them. Akutagawa had made it to where they were, the situation couldn't be any worse.

"Atsushi, we're going to have to make a run for it. We can't fight in this narrow hallway." She whispered to him and he nodded in agreement.

"That was quite an attack there," Fitzgerald had walked back up to them, Dante let Atsushi go and stood in front of him, prepared to die protecting him. Fitzgerald smiled at this, just as they were about to start fighting Rashōmon leveled Atsushi. Fitzgerald's attention went to Akutagawa.

"Who are you?" He asked, intrigued. Akutagawa said nothing to him as he walked to where Atsushi had landed. Dante and Fitzgerald stared at him as he began a series of relentless kicks; Dante moved to help Atsushi, but was grabbed by the arm. Fitzgerald narrowed his eyes at her.

"Hey, little man, I don't take kindly to being ignored." Fitzgerald let Dante go and walked towards Akutagawa.

"My main course is the Weretiger. I'd like my desert to stay quiet and wait its turn." Dante blinked quickly than had to stifle a laugh, she would have never thought that he would have said something like that. This gained a reaction from Fitzgerald that led to a sparring match between him and Akutagawa, which ended abruptly when Fitzgerald punched him across the hallway. Dante took the opportunity to literally throw Atsushi over to where Akutagawa landed and she ran to stand between them facing Fitzgerald.

"Akutagawa, take Atsushi and get out of here. Set your differences aside and come up with a plan that'll get all of us out of here alive and that will save the city!" She snapped and it startled him. She turned back to Fitzgerald.

"I guess it's time to get serious, huh?" He raised an eyebrow and Dante let out a sigh of relief when she saw that Akutagawa had listened to her advice.

"How interesting, I wasn't serious before either." Fitzgerald smiled and prepared himself.

"Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here!" The whole hallway froze over, she was already blindsided by the pain in her arms since they weren't fully healed but she gritted her teeth and tried to fight through it. Fitzgerald looked genuinely surprised, his breath coming out in clouds. She moved and in a flash was right in front of him, reaching out to touch him; just as her fingertips grazed his shirt he jumped away, but not before seeing that the fabric she touched was frozen.

"Fascinating." He grinned and lunged towards her, he dodged her attacks and she dodged his; it was an unyielding draw, but it was one that Dante would eventually lose. The crystals had covered both of her forearms and her breath was coming out ragged. They broke apart.

"What type of monstrous ability do you have?" She watched him, hoping the pause in the battle would give her the breath she needed.

"The Great Fitzgerald, depending on how much money I spend depends on how strong I get. What about you? I've already seen that you have three different powers, but I'm assuming they are joined into one gift?" He joined in the opportunity, wanting to know more about her ability and how he could counter it.

"Inferno is the name of it. There are 9 different levels to it, each one is different from the last." She struggled the words out, the reprieve wasn't helping like she'd hoped.

"Which level is this?" He nodded his head towards her.

"My strongest level, Level 9: Treachery." He grinned widely at her.

"How fitting. A power truly befitting of the Guardian of the book." She lunged at him, hoping to end the fight with one last attack, since that was the only thing she could think of. She went to punch him but he backed up, she took that moment to freeze his feet in place; she had been slowly letting the ice beneath her feet spread outward. It had finally reached him and he was surprised when he found that he couldn't move; she planted both her hands on the ground and put the brunt of her weight on them, the pressure making her wince. She kicked her foot up and roundhouse kicked him through the wall to his right. Dante landed on her knees and released the power; she cringed as she stood back up and made her way to where Atsushi and Akutagawa were, thank god she hadn't taken Virgil back. She had finally made it to them and saw that they were at each other's throats.

"We don't have time for this!" She ran at them and Fitzgerald appeared where she had just been. She turned on her heel quickly to face him.

"Greed!" She yelled and stomped her foot down, a wave of pressure hurtling to Fitzgerald as he put his arms up to block.

"Dante, get in the elevator!" Atsushi yelled to her, the doors that already started closing. Thank you, Akutagawa. She barely made it and slid to a stop as she turned to look back out at where Fitzgerald was; the dust that had been stirred up was clearing and she could see him standing there with a smile on his face and brushing himself off, completely unharmed. The doors fully closed and they made their way to the top of the ship, Dante sat up and rested her back against one of the walls. She caught Atsushi looking at her with concern, he knew her arms were pretty close to being out of commission.

"So your power does damage to your body, how weak." Akutagawa gave her a sideways glance and she glared at him.

"Zip it." She shifted her weight and Atsushi slid next to her.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" He wanted to do something to ease the pain she was in.

"Yeah, you can beat Fitzgerald." She grinned, meaning for it to be playful but instead hit a sour note with him. He cast his eyes downward.

"I don't know if I can." Dante sighed.

"Honestly, you probably can't beat him by yourself. But if you get Sickly over there to help you, you guys might just be able to do it," She smiled at him, "I'll support you where I can."

"There is no way I'm pairing up with someone as useless as him." Akutagawa sneered and Atsushi stood up quickly, fists clenched.

"You know what? I might die, I might be weak, but it's better than partnering up with a murderer. Someone like you, who kills just to try and prove his strength," Atsushi closed his eyes, trying to gather himself, "is just ultimately a sad and miserable person. You have power and status, but you use it in all the wrong ways!"

"Power? Status?" It was Akutagawa's turn to snap.

"You have everything! Connections, friends, a powerful ability. You even have Dazai's approval! I can't understand someone, respect someone, who doesn't realize how truly blessed they are. Instead, they just focus on the past, on the bullshit others spouted!" His voice trembled slightly, Dante's eyes widened as she watched them. They were both two people just wanting nothing more than to be accepted, it was almost heartbreaking. The elevator came to an abrupt stop and they popped out on the top of the ship.

"Now then, this little game of cat and mouse is over. In a little less than 10 minutes the ship will be at a low enough altitude that even the terminal won't be able to control it." Fitzgerald walked towards them, having gotten to the top before then, as he flashed the device in his hand.

"You. If I defeat you, will I be considered strong?" Akutagawa wasn't running any longer. Dante backed away from him a bit, she could feel something stirring.

"I guarantee it." Fitzgerald smiled and that was all Akutagawa needed to hear.

"Rashōmon: Demonic Armor." Red fabric wrapped around his whole body, the only thing left exposed was from the bridge of his nose and up. He leapt to Fitzgerald who dodged by jumping into the air, he took the opportunity to land a powerful punch on Akutagawa who blocked it elegantly. This made Fitzgerald falter which gave Akutagawa enough time to counter with a powerful punch of his own that sent him flying.

"He thinks he's weak? Give me a break." Atsushi spoke to himself and began walking towards the two other men. Dante smiled. Atsushi pushed his ability to the limit and joined the fight.

"Stay out of the way!" Akutagawa barked.

"How about you back off instead?" Atsushi countered and Fitzgerald laughed. Dante sighed.

"You two are a lot alike." He smiled and this sent irritation through the two men.

"Don't compare me to him!" The both yelled in unison as they channelled a huge amount of power into their punches, sending Fitzgerald once again flying. Dante watched, vaguely thinking to herself that Fitzgerald had gone flying from multiple attacks but always seemed to come out unharmed. Both of their powers released, having expelled far too much in such a short time, Akutagawa collapsed to his knees.

"Taking a break?" Atsushi poked at him.

"Shut up, you're next." He snapped back.

"Before you two kill each other can we get the terminal? I swear, you guys are worse than Dazai and Chūya." Dante shook her head with a small chuckle.

"I will get this book…I will bring my daughter back…" The dust cleared and once again Fitzgerald was up and unscathed.

"Oh, come on!" Dante whined, why couldn't this man just stay down?

"I will pay anything to get her back! My money is dispensable!" He powered up, a pillar of yellow light surrounding his body. The force of the power surge knocked Akutagawa and Atsushi off their feet.

"He's off the charts." Atsushi adjusted so that he could stand back up.

"I'm going to need you two to get it together and figure out something to defeat him once and for all," Dante walked past the boys, "in the meantime, I'll try to hold him off to give you guys a bit more time."

With that she activated Treachery once more, surging her power to her limit also. The top of the ship froze over and the two lunged at each other, locked in a battle of dodges and missed hits. She heard the boys activate their powers again and she smirked, releasing her power she dropped back to the ship and let them fight. The ice had begun to travel down her back and if she tried to use Treachery again it would be bad news for her, so she hoped beyond hope that they would be enough. She watched as Atsushi got catapulted off the ship, thinking quickly she activated Fraud and went after him; he was unconscious when she grabbed him.

"Atsushi!" She shook him.

"Weretiger!" She heard Akutagawa scream and that got him to rouse. Rashōmon came flying towards them and Dante took the opportunity to cut the distance in half by throwing Atsushi towards it. The fibers of Rashōmon wrapped around Atsushi's right arm and Dante flew behind him.

"I can't do much more than this, but at least I can give you a little boost." She placed her hand on his back, activating Lust. An orb grew between his back and her hand, when it was too unstable to grow anymore she closed her hand; it erupted, sending Atsushi flying towards Fitzgerald at terminal velocity. They both threw a punch at each other, now it was a matter of who would win out. Fate was in their favor as the blast engulfed Fitzgerald, Atsushi landed on his face and Dante planted her feet on the roof of the ship. Akutagawa was sitting upright, head hung; all of them were utterly exhausted. Dante had really done a number on herself, from the battle with Lovecraft to this one; she was going to be down for a while. She caught a glimpse of Fitzgerald still standing and her heart sank, there was no possible way that he could fight after that.

"I've...won…" Was all he barely got out before he took a swan dive off the side of Moby Dick.

"The terminal!" Atsushi went to jump over the side and Akutagawa stopped him quickly.

"I grabbed it off of him in the last attack." He tossed it to Atsushi who swiped it off so the descent would stop and sighed in relief. Dante walked over to Atsushi.

"Good job," she smiled at him, "both of you."

She turned to Akutagawa who gave her a flustered look, she didn't think that he was used to being praised. The moment was short lived as the ship started to descend again.

"What?" Atsushi looked at the terminal once more, but it was no longer working. An animation of a smiling rat face popped up on the screen.

"Rats in the House of the Dead?" Dante whispered.

"This thing is useless now." Akutagawa grabbed it out of Atsushi's hand and threw it behind him.

"We need to get off the ship." Dante looked at the two of them.

"But it's going to crash into the city!" Atsushi protested as she grabbed him.

"I don't think so, I have a feeling Dazai is all over it." She gave him a reassuring smile and the three jumped off the side of the ship. Using Fraud, Dante was barely able to get Akutagawa to the extraction point and then her and Atsushi to safety. Dazai walked up to greet them and told them of the situation. They had gotten into contact with Kyōka, who was in control of the police airship she was on.

The plan was that she would fly the airship into the Moby Dick, causing it to explode before impact and save everyone. The catch was that she had to stay on the ship in order to control it, so she had to sacrifice herself. Atsushi was beside himself, pleading with her. Fukuzawa had joined them, his attention going to Dante briefly.

"You look like hell." He said lightly.

"I feel like it." She tried to move her arms but quickly stopped when she got nothing but pain. They watched the plane crash into the Moby Dick and Atsushi had no clue on how to react. It wasn't until Kyōka appeared next to Fukuzawa that he finally took a breath. Crashing the aircraft and sacrificing herself were her entrance exam into the agency and she had passed; because of this Fukuzawa was able to use his power, All Men Are Equal, on her to allow her to be able to use and control Demon Snow and get out of the plane before it exploded. Everyone had made it out alive and for the most part unscathed. The Guild had been brought down and now it was time for all of them to have a little peace and quiet for a while.


	12. Connection (***EXPLICIT***)

It was quiet after that, Fukuzawa and Dante had made an agreement that if ever either one of them needed help the other would come running. Working with the agency had lifted her up, made her remember what it felt like to be on a team. Her arms were heavily wrapped and small bandages were placed sporadically on her back and chest. She fiddled with the ring that Chūya had given her, it was on a chain around her neck right now; after her hands had defrosted she pulled it off so that it wouldn't take so much damage when she fought, she liked the weight of it around her neck and she smiled as she twirled it between her fingers.

It was a warm day, so she had thrown away her normal outfit for something more breathable; she was sporting a light grey tank top with a pair of baggy capris joggers and her normal boots. Dante opened the door to the top of a building and the warm light washed over her, a sigh of content escaped her and she smiled. Her gaze was drawn to the city, as it always was, and she perched herself on the edge of the building; her legs dangled limply in the air and she leaned back on her hands, tilting her face to the sky so that the warmth could kiss her skin.

"If only I had a camera, this would be a breathtaking image." He walked up behind her and she could quell the butterflies that stirred. He moved to her right side and sat next to her, this gave her the opportunity to take him in. She traced the outline of his profile with her eyes, memorizing every detail. He too had gone for something a bit more different today, where he was always a smartly dressed executive today he looked like a normal 22 year old man.

He wore a loose white, short sleeve v-neck and a pair of loose grey joggers of his own. His dress shoes were traded for a pair of black sneakers and his hat was all but forgotten, he was truly handsome. He turned his head towards her finally, taking his own time to memorize her features; his carefree face faltered when he finally absorbed all of the bandages.

"I heard what you did, good job." He turned away from her, something dark in his voice and she sighed.

"Thanks." She was clipped, this is not how she was hoping this was going to go.

"You overdid it though," he glanced back at her, his eyes dancing over all of the bandages, "clearly."

He wasn't even trying to hide his irritation at this point. She rolled her eyes.

"Well, you look good. Compared to the last time I saw you, you're not oozing blood and trying to kill me, Chūya." She snapped and immediately regretted the words that came out; it was rare that he remembered anything about what happened when he used Corruption and if he knew that he had tried to kill or hurt her, he would never forgive himself.

"What?" His eyes were saucers.

"Nothing." She whispered, hoping that she could glaze over it but the damage was done. He clenched his fists in his lap.

"You know I would never -" He started.

"I know." She cut him off, if that was something he proved it was that he would never willingly kill or hurt Dante. She rolled her head to the side, the ring shifting its weight; the atmosphere had gotten a little tense.

"I can't believe you kept that." The ring had shimmered in the light, catching his attention.

"I can't believe you wear my old choker." She turned her head towards him again, a little smile on her lips.

"It was the only reminder I had besides my memories, but after 6 years those begin to fade somewhat." His voice tapered off softly.

"I wanted to forget, at least that's what I told myself. I honestly tried to get rid of the ring, but every time I thought I was ready I always ended up talking myself out of it. Like if I got rid of it -" He interrupted.

"You would be getting rid of me?" Their eyes leveled on each other.

"Yeah." Her throat was suddenly dry, the look in his eyes bringing up so many emotions. He reached out and cupped her face, brushing his thumb over her cheek; she closed her eyes and leaned into his touch, this was always how they communicated best. They never needed words, just a simple touch; she felt him shift closer to her, her heart rate skyrocketing. His lips came down softly, first her forehead then her temple; he peppered sweet kisses all other her face, but never once kissed her lips. When he was done he leaned his forehead against hers, the tips of their noses touching and their lips inches apart.

"God, I missed you. I don't even know how to say what I'm feeling right now, just that I'm sorry I ever ruined this." He moved closer going for his final kiss, the one he waited 6 years to have again, and Dante's eyes flew open, reality crashing down on her; she moved back from him, he gave her a confused and hurt look.

"We can't do this." She shook her head and jumped off the median they were on so quickly that Chūya almost missed grabbing her arm; his panic got the better of him and when he saw her leaving he feared that it would be forever this time.

"Why not?" He was still seated, but one small jerk from Dante and he would have come tumbling off the perch.

"We've done this before, everything will be great. Prefect, but then it will all come crashing down and I'll be alone again." She wrapped her free arm around herself, seeking some form of comfort.

"I told you that this time would be different." He was off the median now too, Chūya slid around her to be able to look at her face.

"How can you make a promise like that?" She looked at him, tears threatening to spill over. He was searching for something to say, something to do that would make her understand.

"What if we leave? Like you wanted to originally, would you believe me then?" He grabbed her arms now, gently, careful not to hurt her even more.

"You would do that?" She searched for any hesitation.

"I would do anything for you, I was stupid to have given you up." He was passionate, she had to give him that.

"How do I know this isn't a trick. That Mori -" He was tired of listening to her pick apart everything. His lips crashed onto hers, molding perfectly together; he was warm and inviting and safe, she let him take over as she relaxed. Her arms snaked around his neck as she pulled him to her more closely; his arms wrapped around her slowly, seductively. Dante's heart was pounding in her ears and she pulled away breathless, their foreheads pressed together again.

"You were saying?" He gave her a lazy smile and her heart soared, maybe it would actually work out this time. He leaned down resting his head on her shoulder now and she rubbed her hands over his shoulders, remembering what his body felt like.

"Well it's about damn time." The moment was shattered as Dazai's voice came from behind them, he was perched on the median that they were sitting on just mere minutes ago. She felt Chūya tense and knew that the moment was over. He left go of her and she watched him as he went to throw Dazai over the side of the building. They were going back and forth when she started laughing, they looked back at her confused but then joined in shortly after processing the situation themselves. She walked over to the two of them and she wrapped an arm around their neck, Chūya rested a hand on her lower back and Dazai put one on her shoulder as they both looked at her and then at each other.

"I missed you guys, so much." She pulled them tighter to her and they embraced her back as best as they could. It had been the perfect day for her, they had all gotten caught up in talking about the past and reliving their funny stories; neither of them realizing when they had finally fallen asleep on the top of the building after watching the stars like they had when they were young.

Dante roused to an ache in her back, she sat up slowly remembering yesterday. She opened her eyes hoping to at least find Chūya still there, but was disappointed when she realized she was alone. She hadn't dreamt yesterday, right? She sighed and ran a hand through her unruly hair then stood up to stretch out the stiffness in her back.

"Oh, good, you're awake." Her heart fluttered and she turned to see her love, a coffee in each hand and a bag that was pinched between his fingers. She walked over to him, he was still wearing the same clothes as yesterday and his hair was still a little unruly, he had just run his fingers through it quickly before he left.

"Dazai already left?" She asked as he handed her one of the coffees and she took it greatly, sipping the hot liquid and allowing it to work its magic. He took his own sip and watched her from the corner of his eye, her face lighting up with the comfort the coffee provided.

"Yeah, he was gone when I got up, probably off to go try and kill himself again. Bagel?" Chūya dangled the bag in front of her and she snatched it.

"You better have gotten -"

"Asiago with strawberry cream cheese." He smiled as she looked at him, slightly surprised.

"You remember what kind of bagel I like?" She couldn't suppress her smile.

"I remember everything you like." His eyes got slightly darker, his statement loaded with more than innocent thoughts. She swallowed hard, the butterflies in her stomach fluttering around aggressively; her mind wandered to what he was referring to, his deep groans of pleasure were the first things she remembered. Her face started to flush and she fanned herself with her hand, he smirked triumphantly knowing full well why she was flustered.

Neither of them had been with anyone else in the past years, Dante distanced herself from anyone that could potentially hurt her and Chūya couldn't bring himself to be with anyone but her. He watched her pull the bagel out and took a huge bite, she was trying very hard to think of anything other than them making love but she was failing miserably. She turned her back to him, needing some sort of distance before she couldn't control herself any longer.

Chūya put his coffee down, his desire was also winning out; he walked over to her, wrapping his left arm around her to anchor her against him. His right hand moved her hair away from the back of her neck, exposing the bare skin that her tank top didn't cover. His lips found the nape of her neck as he tenderly kissed down to her shoulder where he bit her softly, she let out a soft moan that was like music to his ears, how he had missed that sound. He pulled her tighter to him so she could feel his own excitement; he could feel how quick her pulse was as he continued his assault, his hand finding its way under her shirt as his own moan escaped when he found that she hadn't been wearing a bra.

Dante flipped the scales as she managed to spin herself around then began to push him up against a nearby wall, her own eyes darker now with the pleasure he had brought on. She kissed across his collar bone, nipping at his neck and she slid her hands in his shirt and up his chest. She had quickly realized that he was far more toned than he was 6 years ago and her arousal soared, wanting nothing more than to tear his clothes off to look at how much his body had matured.

She kissed him now roughly, feverishly, wanting to taste him as she moved her hands down to his waistband. She hooked her thumbs in but before she could go further he grabbed her wrists; holding them both in one hand he spun her, pinning her to the wall with her arms over her head. He used his free hand to explore her further, his eyes never leaving her face; watching her every breath and moan escape, her eyes closed in pure ecstasy. Her skin felt like silk under his hands as his hand traveled over her stomach and sides, then up to her breasts.

"I've wanted this for so long." He whispered in her ear, his voice thick with desire, and then nipped at her ear. A whimper escaped her throat and he knew that she wasn't going to be able to hold out much longer, he ceased his assault and pulled away to look at her again. Her eyes fluttered open and the minute then locked with his, all of his control was stolen away. He let his need dominate her take over as he tore at her pants, a primal groan leaving him when he saw that he didn't have any underwear on either. This girl was going to kill him.

He literally ripped off her tank top and stared at the body of the woman he loved. She was toned and tight, but not to the point you could see muscles, every inch of her supple and inviting. His eyes washed over her lazily, becoming more aware of the growing ache in his pants; she smiled wickedly at him and hooked her fingers in his pants, freeing what she wanted most in the moment. He pulled his shirt off and grabbed her thighs, picking her up and using the wall behind her was extra support. He positioned himself right at her entrance, feeling how wet she was with arousal.

She wrapped her arms around his shoulders and her legs around his narrow waist. The years had taken care of him, that was for sure. She pulled him to her, making him slide every so slowly inside of her. Their lips touched as they both moaned out in the pleasure of finally being connected again. Chūya knew that he wasn't going to last long but was determined to go as long as he physically could, however given the goddess he was currently inside he wasn't sure if determination would be enough.

He hadn't moved, he wanted torture her for a little bit; his hands tightened on her thighs and she wiggled her hips begging for him to move so she could release her built up tension. He smiled, his eyes half lidded as he gazed at her face, flushed with arousal.

"What do you want?" His voice was husky as he held her so tight that she couldn't even move her hips anymore. Her voice was breathy and sexy.

"I want you…to fuck me." She snaked her hands into his hair and pulled, he let out a growl that made her insides quiver. He shook her hands out of his hair, but knew that she wanted him to do the same thing to her. Moving his right arm all the way around her waist as he moved his left one to her hair; he grabbed a fist full and pulled her head to the side, exposing the full length of her neck. He bit down as he thrust himself into her roughly, she cried out as her nails clawed down his back.

He continued his pace, his own pleasure building far quicker than he expected; he willed himself to hold off, wanting her to get to her climax first. His wish was granted when dhe clung to him tightly, her voice hoarse from her moans as her orgasm ripped through her body; hearing her climax he wasn't able to hold off any longer as he thrust himself deeply into her one last time, his own climax reached. They breathed together, trying to steady their heartbeats as they kissed each other passionately; Chūya collapsed, not able to support himself or her with his body feeling like rubber.

Dante was on top of him and she enjoyed the view of him being underneath her. She grinded herself against him, ready for a second round. He watched her, turned on once more by the sight of her being on top of his, the glow of the sun causing a halo around her. She slid down on his once again stiff member, wanting to make him cum once more. She rolled her hips around, feeling him inside of her; her pace agonizingly slow. He was having none of that as he wrapped his arms around her, one around her waist and the other around her shoulders, anchoring her where she was once again.

He pounded into her, her cries of pleasure making him build once more. He pulled her off of him and flipped her around, her ass in the air as she braced herself on her hands. He smacked her cheek playfully and she wiggled against him once more wanting to feel every inch of him back inside of her. The concrete of the top of the building didn't feel the best against their knees, but that was the last thing either of them focused on.

He entered her once more, his left hand on her hip and his right rested on the nape of her neck. He thrust himself into her deeply, hitting so many different stops due to the change in position, her moans coming more loudly; Dante's body trembled against his and he knew she was almost there. Chūya eased in and out of her, their moans mixing together in their pleasure; she tightened around him, her muscles contracting from the second orgasm and that was all it took to push him over the edge as they came together. He leaned against her back, completely spent.

"Are you feeling up for a shower?" Dante tried to move.

"If I can get my legs to work again, sure." Chūya chuckled, his lips planting a kiss against her back. They both laughed and managed to get their bearings; Chūya put his boxers and joggers back on and grabbed his shoes and Dante's boots. He looked back at her to see her pulling on his shirt having already gotten her pants back on; he took a mental picture, loving the way she looked in it as she picked up the remains of her tank top.

"I'll buy you a new one." He blushed, a little embarrassed he let himself lose control like that. She chuckled, a light and feminine sound that made his heart flutter, as they walked to her apartment.

"Don't worry about it, I wasn't too attached to it." She opened the door to her place and they walked in. The rest of the day was spent with them not able to keep their hands off of each other. After the shower, Chūya had helped her rewrap her arms and that just led to another go at each other. By nightfall they had finally made it to her bed, having christened almost every other surface in her apartment. Her finger traced absentmindedly over his chest.

"Hey, Chūya," his nose was buried in her hair, loving the smell of her, he let out an acknowledging grunt, "we left the coffee on the roof."

He blinked then snorted out a laugh, as he felt a smile come across her lips.

"I couldn't care less about the coffee." He snuggled closer to her and kissed her deeply, this is how their lives should have been and he was going to do everything in his power to keep it like this.


	13. Lost

Dante stretched, arching her back and lifted her arms above her head, feeling the delicious soreness the pulled at her muscles. She sighed and turned her body to find that she was alone in her bed, a weight crushing down on her. Had he left before she had even woken up? Her attention was caught by a muffled mumbling coming from her kitchen. Dante pulled on her silk robe and made her way out the bedroom. Chūya was standing at the sink in the kitchen, he was in his boxers and nothing else; his bare back facing to her as he spoke low into the phone. Dante walked up behind him quietly, happy that he hadn't disappeared on her; she snaked her arms around his thin waist and placed soft kisses on his back. His voice rose an octave and he had to clear his throat to try and sound normal again, she was playing a dangerous game again. He ended the call abruptly and tossed his phone on the counter; grabbing her hands, he spun himself around so that he could face her. Chūya cupped the sides of her face and kissed her deeply.

"I made coffee, there is a mug right beside the pot for you." He whispered against her lips and she smiled.

"What? You didn't make it for me?" Dante teased and let him go, he pouted slightly from the loss of her warmth. He watched her buzz around the kitchen, reaching for the cream and sugar before taking a long sip of the warm liquid.

"You have this place set up exactly like your old apartment." He leaned against the counter as he looked around the kitchen, Dante watched him out of the corner of her eye.

"I'm a creature of habit, what can I say?" She tilted her head to look at him fully and he gave her a breathtaking smile.

"I can tell." The moment was short lived as he's mood turned a little sour, probably remembering the conversation he had just had.

"What is it?" She asked as she sat the mug down and crossed her arms, instantly going on the defensive. Why? Because that's just how she is.

"Mori." The name felt like a slap in the face.

"And?" She clenched her fist, prepared for the exact same situation that happened 6 years ago.

"He's pissed that I missed check in. Said the reason better be good because with being an Executive I need to be available at any given time." Chūya turned to Dante, his cerulean eyes darker and harsher than normal. She swallowed a lump in her throat.

"What did you tell him? What was your reason?"

"I didn't give him one, what I do in my private time has nothing to do with him." Dante raised her eyebrows slightly surprised. He would have never done this in the past.

"You don't want him to know that you're here? With me?"

"I don't want him to mess this up again. We're building this from scratch, mostly, I want to do it right this time." Chūya sighed and she could see that he looked mentally exhausted. She walked over to him and put a hand on his cheek.

"How did I ever think I could hate you?" She placed a small kiss on his collarbone and then walked off.

"You should probably get dressed and head to HQ so Mori doesn't have another bird. I've got to get going anyway, I'm meeting a contact about a theory I have." She dropped the robe off of her body slowly and it hit the floor with a flutter. Within a matter of seconds Chūya had her up in the air, wrapping her legs around his waist. There was enough time for one more mind blowing orgasm, right?

She rounded a corner quickly, coming up on the spot that her and the contact had agreed on. She didn't know who he was, but he had information for her on the Rats. She thought back to the Moby Dick and how they had interfered with the terminal so that the descent of the airship would start once more. What was their aim, was it the same as the Guild? Dante hardly knew anything about them, just that they were an underground organization that popped up every now and then. The man who normally gave her the information she needed had passed this person's contact info to her, he said that the person would know more about the Rats than he would ever be able to find. She felt a familiar vibration and stopped, pulling out her phone to see the Dazai was calling her. Now what could he possibly want?

"Dazai, I don't have a whole lot of time. I'm about to meet with someone -"

"Dante, you're in danger." His tone hit her like a ton of bricks. There wasn't a trace of joking or playfulness, he was beyond serious.

"I'm sorry, what?" Dante looked around quickly to find a better spot to have the conversation instead of being right in the open. She made her way to an alleyway.

"Fukuzawa and Mori have been cursed with something called Cannibalism, the man that is doing this is Fyodor Dostoevsky. You've never met him, but I'm sure you will soon. He's after the book." Dante's eyes widened, what the hell was going on?

"How do you know all this?" She felt that something wasn't right, something in her gut was telling her this wasn't adding up right.

"I know because he just told me, he is right here in front of me after all." There was a shot from a gun and the line went dead. Dante pulled the phone away from her ear quickly, staring at the blank screen. She thought of the contact she was supposed to meet. Was that a trap? Should she not go? Dante slowly walked out of the alleyway, completely distracted by the information that she was given. This was about to be an all out war. Fyodor cursed Mori and Fukuzawa in order to take out both the agency and the Mafia, which would let him do what he needed to in order to find the book.

"Chūya." She said to herself, she had to warn him. Let him know what was going on. She dialed his number and it went straight to voicemail.

"Shit!" She pocketed her phone again and thought for a moment. Maybe the person she was meeting wasn't a setup, maybe he could actually help her stop this. She bit her lip. This situation sucked. She ran towards the building that the meeting was supposed to be at, it was still pretty far away; Dante burst through the doors, panting. Not drawing attention was out the window at this point. She flew up the stairs as fast as she could, thinking to herself that she probably should have used Violence to cut the time in half. Thank you, panic, for clouding people's judgment. She slammed the door open to the top of the building, panting as she searched the roof. This was where they were supposed to meet.

She walked around slowly, a pit forming in her stomach; this was a trap and every fiber of her being was telling her to run now. She held her breath and turned around to make her way back towards the door; when she turned on her heel she was met face to face with a young man who was almost the same height as Dazai, he was slim and thin and wore clothes that looked entirely too hot. His black hair hung messily to his shoulders and his violet eyes bored into her.

"You must be Dante." She took a step back, not liking how close he was. Keep your distance.

"You must be hot in all those clothes," She countered with a stiff chuckle, trying to recover some kind of balance, "I'm at a loss, I don't know what your name is."

He tilted his head to the side, mischief in those dull violet eyes.

"Oh, but you do, Dazai did call you after all." Her eyes widened, she needed to go. Blue rings started to appear around Dante's body, fully prepared to activate Violence to make a quick escape.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," He said it so confidently that it actually made her stop, "you haven't even heard what I want."

"You want the book and I don't know where it is, so you don't need me." She went to move again and he held up a finger, waving it back and forth.

"Oh, no, you don't know where it is. However, your companion does." He pointed to her arm where Virgil always hid.

"No, he doesn't." She countered and he sighed.

"Riddle me this, how does an entity that was with the power from the very being not know where the book is hidden? He was with the very first holder of Inferno, was he not? Which means that he was there when the plan went into place and where to book was stashed away. All the holders after that might not know where the book is, but he does." Fyodor narrowed his eyes.

"You're not getting ahold of him. You'll have to kill me first." She had begun walking backwards, trying to get to the ledge of the building. She would jump and then use Violence quickly so that she didn't get hurt and was able to get away. Yeah, that seemed like a good plan. He was having none of that and closing the distance between them every time she tried to make it bigger.

"Don't worry, I plan too. After all, you wouldn't willingly let me have him and he wouldn't willingly leave you, but if you were dead he wouldn't have a choice but to come out." She inhaled sharply, made to activate her power and jump over the ledge. He reached out to her, the slightest brush of his fingertips on her cheek. The side of her face exploded and she let out a blood curdling scream; Dante went over the side of the ledge and her body landed on the ground with a thud. Fyodor looked to where she had landed, blood pooling around her body.

"Dante! Dante!" Virgil had appeared and Fyodor knew he had won, now it was just a matter of capturing the entity. Virgil turned to see him, then looked back to Dante. She was still breathing faintly, but he had no clue how long that would last. He needed to find someone, anyone. Virgil took off in the direction of the agency, trying to stay ahead of Fyodor; it was now a race against time and this was something Virgil had never had to do before. He fazed through the wall and saw Naomi.

"Naomi! Where is everyone?" He yelled at her quickly and it startled her, she had never seen him before.

"Um, who...what -"

"I don't have time to explain, where are they?" He cut her off, needing to get Dante help quickly. With Virgil running around outside of his host, he was hoping that Fyodor wouldn't give Dante another thought. He probably thought that she was dead, but Virgil knew she wasn't. He could feel it.

"The hospital, Fukuzawa is there." Virgil took off in the direction of the hospital, hoping that he could convince one of them to help him. He fazed through the doors of the hospital and began flying through each of the levels. He found the one he needed and stumbled on a scene that made him fear the worst. The agency and the Mafia were locked on to each other, a standoff. He didn't have time to think, he needed to try. Virgil flew past them and Chūya caught sight of him wiping by.

"Virgil?" He mumbled and Virgil skidded to a halt. Chūya felt his heart drop when he saw the look that Virgil had. Virgil knew that he would help, right? That he wouldn't hesitate to help? He flew into Chūya's side, knocking the two of them out the window. Chūya recovered and started to float in the air.

"We need to go! Now!" He looked at Virgil confused.

"Go where?"

"Dante is hurt, badly! Like death bad!" Virgil screamed and then pushed himself into Chūya's back, trying to get him to move. Chūya grabbed him and held him in his hand.

"Point me where I need to go." His tone was serious and dire. Virgil told him and they were off. He landed and ran in between the buildings where Dante had fallen, his legs slowly losing their ability to run as she came into his view. Her hair was stuck to her face with blood, the left side a bloody mass of what it used to be. Her right eye shut and her skin paler than he had ever seen; the blood that had puddled beneath her had begun to soak into her clothes and he collapsed on his knees when he finally got to her. He picked her up slowly, tears stinging his eyes. How was it that this morning now felt like a lifetime away; he would have never left her if he knew this was how the day was going to play out. Chūya pulled her close to him, sobbing into her chest wanting to turn the hands of time back.

"Chūya, it's faint, but she's still alive. We need to get her help." Virgil tried to coax him into moving, they were too exposed and Dante didn't have this kind of time to spare. He pulled back and looked at her face, touching the wound lightly; his eyebrows furrowed in confusion when he saw small frost crystals start to form around the injury.

"Is this normal?" He had moved his hand as her face was now frigid, the cold biting through his glove. Virgil gazed at her, he knew what this was.

"We need to get her somewhere safe, I'll explain everything when she's secure." Chūya nodded and they were off. They landed at the Mafia's main house and he designated a room specifically for her to be in, he barked orders as some of the medical staff ran in and out of the room bringing what he asked for.

"You won't need any of that." Virgil commented as Chūya laid her down in the bed that was there. The whole left side of her face was completely frozen and the ice had begun to make its way to the right side.

"What do we need to do then?" He looked at Virgil.

"We wait." When he said that an icy blast released from Dante's body, the mist blinding them. When it cleared the whole room was frozen, in the center was a large ice crystal with Dante's body frozen in it. Chūya gazed at the icy structure and walked towards it, the love of his life in a frozen slumber.

"I've only seen this once before." Virgil hovered towards him.

"What is it?" Chūya could only muster a whisper.

"It's Inferno. It's healing her. Out of all the predecessors there was only one other person who was able to use this."

"Who was it?" Chūya couldn't look away.

"The very first host." Virgil moved to sit on Chūya's shoulder and he let him.

"How long is she going to be like this?" His voice quivered, fearful that she wouldn't ever come back to him.

"I don't know, we're in uncharted territory."


	14. ***Author's Note***

Hello Followers,

Forgive me, if you follow the story and are waiting for the next update I'm sorry to disappoint.

I'm unfortunately stuck with where I am at in it and am having to go back to the drawing board. I want to give you guys the best possible fanfiction I can come up with and I want it to flow seamlessly.

I jumped the gun a little too fast with starting this fanfic and have been just writing as I'm going and not really think about able to to tie everything together and the back story. I plan on changing some things around and rewriting whatever I need to in order to make it work. Everything for the most part should remain the same, but I need to think about how to fit Dante into everything better.

I'm so sorry for this, but for the moment the story is on temporary hiatus. Thank you for understanding, I will try to get everything worked out as quickly as possible so that I can keep the fanfiction going.


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